Mother Charged in Stabbing of Children

A 29-year-old West Covina woman has been ordered to stand trial in Superior Court for allegedly wounding her two small children with a kitchen knife.

Police were called to the home of Phyllis Patricia Shademan on March 13 after her 7-year-old son, who had eight stab wounds in the chest, climbed out of a bathroom window and ran to a neighbor’s house for help. His 6-year-old sister was found curled in a fetal position underneath a bed with six stab wounds.

Shademan was found sitting in the bathroom, and appeared dazed. The woman’s husband, owner of a West Hollywood taxicab company, was at work.

Shademan was charged with two counts each of attempted premeditated murder and assault with a deadly weapon, and an additional charge of using a knife to cause children great bodily harm.

Both children are recovering from lung damage. According to court documents, Shademan and her husband, who have been married for 10 years, told police that problems had surfaced over the disciplining of the children and the mother’s drinking.