Woman gets stayed prison sentence, 40 years probation for attack that killed daughter, hurt son

A Woodbury woman who was found guilty of murdering her 5-year-old daughter and injuring her 6-year-old son in 2021 will not have to serve any more prison time as long as she follows her probationary terms.

Court documents show Sadiyo Ibrahim Mohamed, 34, was sentenced Friday afternoon to 40 years of supervised probation as well as a stayed prison sentence of 30½ years in case she fails to follow the conditions imposed by the court. Among those is a requirement that Mohamed comply with all parts of her mental health commitment case and get any necessary treatment.

She had served 934 days in prison.

Mohamed’s charges were amended after her daughter died and was convicted of second-degree murder and second-degree assault. As previously reported, she was charged with one count each of attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault and second-degree assault.

A memorandum filed on Thursday by prosecutors shows the state asked for a 30½-year sentence for the murder charge, with a 33-month sentence to be served at the same time for the assault charge.

Mohamed had been found guilty of the charges in September during a two-phase trial. The second phase happened in October, where a judge determined there wasn’t enough evidence to prove mental illness was a driving factor during the incident. A criminal complaint notes Mohamed had been hospitalized in the past for mental health reasons.

The complaint goes on to say that police found the girl lying in the street with a puddle of blood coming from her head and minor cuts and abrasions to her face on May 26, 2021. She was taken to a hospital with a skull fracture, brain bleed, lacerated liver and broken ribs.

On the sidewalk, officers found a long, skinny piece of wood next to a pool of blood.

A 6-year-old boy was also found at the scene with a severely bruised arm and a large contusion on his forehead. Officers also found a child around 1 or 2 years old in the apartment who appeared to be unharmed.

Several neighbors told police they heard a child screaming for several minutes and heard the sound of slaps or thumps, the complaint states. Another reported talking to the boy, who was shaking uncontrollably and said his mother hit him and his sister.

A detective and social worker spoke with the boy at the hospital, the complaint states, and the boy said they didn’t know why his mom was mad, but she was saying she didn’t trust his sister as she hit the girl.

In an interview with police, the complaint states Mohamed said she had a mental illness and had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder but was off her medications for a couple of months. She added that she’d been paranoid and hallucinating for a couple of days and believed her kids were playing games on her, and she “wasn’t sure if her kids were the devil or a demon, which made her question if she should hurt them or not.”