Trial begins for mother accused of abusing adopted children

A jury trial is underway for Sharon Windey, a Greenville mother accused of abusing her three adopted children.

Windey, 55, is charged with 12 counts, which include strangulation and suffocation, neglecting a child, and causing mental harm to a child.

As Action 2 News first reported in March of last year, her adopted children, who were 14 and 15 at the time, said they were punched, choked and thrown against walls.

They also said they were forced to eat excessive amounts of oatmeal and eat it again if they threw up.

Jury selection began Monday morning. The trial is scheduled to last through Friday.

Windey's husband, Donald, and son, Steven, are also charged. The son is expected to enter a plea to three charges in February: child abuse, attempted strangulation or suffocation and disorderly conduct.

The father is charged in two separate cases. This past October, he was charged with three counts of repeated sexual assault of a child. In 2018, he was charged in 2018 with 11 counts, including repeated physical abuse of a child with risk of great bodily harm, strangulation and suffocation, causing mental harm to a child and neglecting a child.

Donald Windey has hearings scheduled next month.