acts within her home, which she described as being "such a madhouse". She also added that she had been too preoccupied with her own ill health and depression to control her children. In response to questioning relating to whether she had physically abused the Likens sisters, Gertrude claimed that although she had "started to spank" Likens on one occasion, she was emotionally unable to finish doing so, and had not hit the child on any further occasions. She denied any knowledge of Likens having ever endured any beating, scalding, branding, or burning within her home. Two days later, Richard Hobbs testified in his own defense, describing how Gertrude had called Likens to the kitchen on October 23 and stated to her: "You have branded my children so now I'm going to brand you." Hobbs testified Gertrude had begun etching the insult into Likens' abdomen before asking him to finish the task. Although Hobbs testified this act of branding had brought blood to the surface of Likens' flesh and that Likens had begged him to stop, he remained adamant the section of branding he had inflicted had been light. Hobbs further testified that he had initially believed Likens would not be at the Baniszewski household on October 26, as Gertrude had informed him she intended to "get rid of" Sylvia the day prior. He further stated that, after Likens' death, he had simply returned home to watch "the rest of The Lloyd Thaxton Show." When Marie Baniszewski was called to the stand as a witness for the defense, she broke down and admitted that she had heated the needle which Hobbs had used to brand Likens' abdomen. Marie also testified as to her mother's indifference to Likens' evident distress in relation to the physical and mental abuse she had increasingly suffered, with her mother's full knowledge, stating that on one occasion, Gertrude had sat upon a chair and crocheted as she watched a neighborhood girl named Anna Siscoe attack Likens. Marie added that although all five defendants had repeatedly physically and mentally tormented Likens, she had most often witnessed her mother and sister committing these acts before her mother had forced Likens to live in the basement where the abuse had further escalated and she had ultimately died. Another witness to testify on behalf of the prosecution, Grace Sargent, stated how she had sat close to Paula on a church bus