Couple attack woman in home

The woman is blind. Police say the two beat and kicked her.

By CASEY CORA, Times Staff Writer
Published January 5, 2008

TAMPA - A blind, disabled woman opened her door early Friday, and a couple barged in, police say, beating and kicking her while demanding money, then took her caregiver's cell phone.

Police say Jimmie L. Williams, 44, and Aiesha J. Williams, 29, approached the front door of a Tampa apartment about 4:30 a.m. Inside was a 48-year-old woman who suffers from low-tension glaucoma that has left her mostly blind.

"When I opened the door, I thought they were somebody I knew," said the woman, who the Times is not identifying to protect her security. "When they got in my house, then it hit me."

The Williamses demanded $40 they said was owed to them by the woman's ex-roommate at the apartment. She said the pair have terrorized her ever since she threw that roommate out in November.

A police report dated Dec. 2 shows Aiesha Williams threatened the woman over the phone, then Aiesha and Jimmie threw a rock through her second-story window.

"I wanna just crawl up in a little ball and not wake up," she said. "Why should I accept what's happening to me because of somebody else?"

Early Friday, the Williamses forced their way inside, then punched the woman in the head and face, the police report says.

Police said the woman, a North Carolina native and recent arrival in Tampa, received minor injuries in the incident.

Police found the Williamses at a Salvation Army shelter on Florida Avenue, where Jimmie Williams is employed as a front desk clerk. Aiesha Williams admitted the beating, the report shows.

Both were charged with felony burglary of an occupied dwelling with assault, aggravated battery with great bodily harm and third-degree grand theft.

Jail records show they have previous arrests on drug charges.

[Last modified January 4, 2008, 21:35:18]