Shanteari Weems was at her home in Randallstown when her husband at the time repeatedly started calling her name.

On July 18, 2022, Weems testified, her husband James showed her a piece of paper and then remarked that he had been accused of sexual abuse. Child Protective Services, he reported, was headed to her business in Owings Mills: Lil Kidz Kastle Daycare Center.

Law enforcement towed the day care van, she said, but would not tell her anything about the investigation. Later, her business was shut down.

“I had a lot of questions, trying to figure out what was going on,” Weems testified on Tuesday. “Overwhelmed. Stressed.”

Baltimore County Police later filed charges against her now-former husband, whom she said was primarily responsible after the COVID-19 pandemic for driving the van and dropping off children and picking them up from school.

Shanteari Weems testified for more than two hours against James Weems Jr., 59, of Towson, as he stands trial in Baltimore County Circuit Court on charges of sexual abuse of a minor, rape, assault and related offenses. She later filed for divorce and was convicted in a separate case of shooting and wounding him after learning of the accusations.

Circuit Judge Michael J. Finifter is presiding over the trial, which will resume on Wednesday.

In her opening statement, Assistant State’s Attorney Zarena Sita said the allegations came to light after a relative of a 10-year-old girl witnessed her using a tablet to watch pornography.

The girl reported that she learned about the website from her day care van driver: “Mr. James,” Sita said.

James Weems, she said, would also sexually abuse the girl in the van and at the day care. She’s now 12.

The girl has an individualized education program, or IEP, and a slight delay in processing. Family members describe her as seeming younger and less mature than other children her age, Sita said.

“Make no mistake, whether she understands it or not, these things happened to her. And he did these things to her,” Sita said. “She is a child. She is not lying. She had no reason to make this up.”

But Thomas Pavlinic, James Weems’ lead attorney, said that while his client had somewhat of an addiction to pornography, he never showed sexually explicit material to children.

“Never, ever, once,” Pavlinic said in his opening statement.

Pavlinic said his client did not sexually abuse the girl. James Weems, he said, will later testify in his own defense.

During her testimony, Shanteari Weems said her former husband was always around the day care and would help run errands. He later became the primary driver of the van and would make stops at places including Deer Park, Woodholme and Lyons Mill elementary schools.

She acknowledged using pornography during their relationship. Her ex-husband, she said, stated that he wasn’t into it.

He did not ask any questions, she said, during the investigation.

“He was just real calm,” she testified.

When the allegations surfaced, Shanteari Weems drove from Baltimore County to Washington, D.C., to confront her husband inside his hotel room at what was then called the Mandarin Oriental hotel and shot him two times.

Shanteari Weems pleaded guilty in D.C. Superior Court to aggravated assault and carrying a pistol without a license and was sentenced to four years in prison — plus two years’ supervised release. She’s set to be released on Dec. 17, 2025, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The jury, though, neither heard about the shooting nor learned that she’s currently imprisoned. She wore regular clothes and took the witness stand outside the presence of jurors.

Later, the 12-year-old girl took the stand. She testified that James Weems would position his cellphone on the cupholders in the van and show her an “inappropriate website” with videos of “people naked.”

He would sexually abuse her in the van and at the day care, she said, including on the playground.

On the witness stand, she cradled a teddy bear. At one point, she dabbed her eyes with tissues. About a half dozen members of the nonprofit organization Bikers Against Child Abuse sat in the second row of the courtroom gallery in support.

During cross-examination, the girl often responded to questions with, “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember.” Other times, she just shook her head.

Prosecutors later asked what they told the girl during their meetings to do at trial.

“Tell the truth,” she replied.