Woodbury woman ruled competent to stand trial on charges of killing daughter, injuring son

A judge declared a Woodbury woman with a history of mental illness competent to stand trial on charges of fatally attacking her 5-year-old daughter and injuring her 6-year-old son in the street outside their home nearly 11 months ago.

Sadiyo I. Mohamed, 32, was ordered civilly committed in October for six months, meaning the second-degree murder and second-degree assault case against her in Washington County District Court was put on hold.

After her commitment, Judge Douglas Meslow on Thursday declared Mohamed competent and scheduled the next hearing in the case for July 13.

Ahead of her civil commitment last fall, Dr. Colt Blunt determined Mohamed was incompetent to proceed with the charges that she killed Kawthar Abdi and injured her son in May 2021. Blunt told the court that Mohamed refused to participate in an examination and would not leave her jail cell for a court hearing concerning her mental state.

Court records show that Mohamed has struggled with mental illness since at least 2013, when she was civilly committed for a year for treatment. She was similarly committed in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and last discharged in September 2018.

Mohamed told police on the day of the attacks that she has bipolar disorder and had been off her medications for a couple of months, according to a criminal complaint. She also said she has been "paranoid and hallucinating for the last couple of days," the complaint read.

She went on to say that she believed her children were playing games with her, and "she said she wasn't sure if her kids were the devil or a demon, which made her question if she should hurt them or not," according to the charges.

Police responded about 12:45 a.m. May 26 to numerous 911 calls from the 400 block of Lake View Alcove and saw Mohamed chasing her screaming son down the street. Officers found Kawthar on her back in the street. She was bleeding from a head wound and was unresponsive, according to the charges.

Emergency medical personnel took the children to Regions Hospital. The girl had a fractured skull and other serious injuries, and the boy had a possible broken arm and a large bump above his right eye, the charges read. Kawthar died three weeks later.