A Woodbury mother, Sadiyo Ibrahim Mohamed, who was found guilty of killing her 5-year-old daughter and injuring her 6-year-old son, has avoided jail time but is saddled with 40 years of probation. According to Twin Cities, Washington County Judge Douglas Meslow handed down a 30½-year prison sentence but stayed the execution until 2063, provided that Mohamed adheres to the terms of her mental health civil commitment at the Minnesota Security Hospital and subsequent conditions.
Mohamed's history with mental health issues and civil commitments traces back to 2013, and she has been under the latest such commitment since November 2021. During a bifurcated bench trial, Mohamed was found guilty of second-degree intentional murder and second-degree assault for an attack on May 26, 2021, despite her defense claiming she was mentally ill at the time. CBS News Minnesota detailed an amended complaint that charged her with these crimes after her daughter passed away.
The conditions for the probation, as reported by Twin Cities, include her continued commitment to the mental health facility, where her case runs for an indeterminate time. She must also comply with a domestic abuse no-contact order, keeping her away from her surviving child.
The harrowing events began when Woodbury police were called to Mohamed's residence, where they found her son screaming and her daughter lying in the street with severe injuries. Mohamed told officers she was bipolar and off her medication for months, while she "wasn’t sure if her children were 'the devil or a demon,'" thus compelling her doubts about whether to injure them, according to charges. The boy later told police that his mother had used a piece of wood to hit them multiple times.
Despite her crimes, Mohamed found support from her family and the Somali community, who wrote letters pleading for treatment rather than incarceration. They cited her severe mental health issues that began after the birth of her first child and progressively worsened. Mohamed's mother, Hodan Ali, described her daughter's life as filled with "relentless battles in her own mind," as quoted by Twin Cities.
