Arraignment delayed for man held in fatal meat cleaver attack
A Thousand Oaks cabdriver accused of using a meat cleaver to hack to death a 6-year-old boy and seriously injure the boy’s mother appeared briefly in Ventura County Superior Court on Tuesday.
Calvin Leonard Sharp, 27, was due to be formally charged with one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder in the death of young Sev’n Molina and the attack on the child’s mother, Sandra Ruiz, 33, and neighbor, Diane Cox, 53.
But lawyers in the case agreed to postpone Sharp’s arraignment until Aug. 31. He is being held in Ventura County Jail in lieu of $1.5-million bail.
Ruiz, who remains in the intensive care unit of Los Robles Regional Medical Center, was taken off a ventilator Tuesday and upgraded from critical to serious condition.
“She has multiple deep lacerations on her face and her scalp, as well as deep slashes front and back on her arms as a result of defending herself,” said hospital spokeswoman Kris Carraway-Bowman. “We repaired the tip of her right thumb, which was nearly amputated in the attack, and she has a broken right wrist.”
Sharp allegedly attacked Sev’n after a heated argument Sunday night with his mother at her Hillcrest Drive apartment complex in Thousand Oaks, authorities and witnesses said. Ruiz and Cox were injured when they tried to intervene.
Cox was treated at a hospital for facial cuts and released.
Meanwhile, the Ventura County district attorney’s office has agreed to accept donations to assist the Ruiz family.
Donations may be mailed to Catherine Duggin, director, Crime Victims Assistance Program, Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, 800 S. Victoria Ave., Ventura, CA 93009. Checks and money orders should be made payable to Crime Victims Emergency Fund -- Ruiz Family.
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