Judge: 9-year-old Ocala boy accused of stabbing 5-year-old sister to undergo mental evaluation
OCALA, Fla. - The 9 year-old boy charged with attempted first-degree murder in the stabbing of his 5 year-old sister will undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
During the boy's first court appearance in Marion County Monday morning, a circuit judge ordered the evaluation to be conducted as soon as possible. The judge also ordered the child to remain in secure detention.
According to the arrest affidavit from the Ocala Police Department, the boy was playing in his room with his sister when the children's mother stepped outside to check the mail and get some candy for the children from a neighbor in the apartment complex.
When she returned, the report says she found the boy stabbing his younger sister repeatedly.
The report says the mother grabbed the knife away from her son and picked up her daughter as the boy ran out of the home.
The mother then called 911.
Police arrived at the Berkley Point Apartments and say the 5-year-old girl was alert and able to talk.
She was airlifted to a nearby hospital for treatment.
“It’s an outrage because it’s unheard of in Ocala,” Jermaine Williams, who lives nearby, said. “Ocala is small, so if anything happens, everyone knows about it. I mean, it’s a tragic incident on the spot.”
The arrest report says officers were able to find the 9-year-old boy hiding in a maintenance shed in the complex.
“It was just a really disturbing scene,” Ocala Police Public Information Officer Corie Byrd said. “We immediately took him into custody and brought him back to the police department where he was interviewed with consent from his parent.”
Officers spoke with the boy who said he wanted to kill his sister and that the "thought had entered his head two days earlier," according to the arrest report.
The report said the boy said that he tried to get the thought out of his head, but couldn't.
Officers wrote in the arrest report that the boy grabbed a knife from the kitchen and entered his bedroom where his 5-year-old sister was and grabbed her by the back of her neck while she was bent over and began stabbing her.
“I think the best case scenario here is to get this young man some help,” Byrd said. “A lot of people were affected by this, so we’re going to see the lasting impact here in this community.”
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In the arrest report, it said officers asked the boy why he stabbed his sister? The report said that the boy told investigators that "he wanted to be able to go outside."
According to the report, it said that while the boy was stabbing his sister, he said, "Die, Die."
The arrest report said investigators found probable cause to arrest the 9-year-old on a charge of attempted first-degree murder.
Bob Fisher, a criminal defense attorney, said, “The state attorney's office is going to have to make a decision as to whether to charge him as an adult or a juvenile. Realistically, its probably going to remain in the juvenile system by virtue of the interfamilial event and the fact that the child is only 9 years of age.”
The boy is due back in court on Feb. 5 at 9 a.m.