Clermont Woman, 27, Accused of Stabbing Mother With Glass Shard in Home Fight

A 27-year-old Clermont woman is facing a felony charge after Lake County deputies say she stabbed her mother with a shard of broken glass during a violent fight inside their home. Deputies arrived to find the mother covered in blood with a wound on the upper-left side of her head, and the injuries were severe enough that she had to be taken to a Level 1 trauma center in Orlando.

Lake County Sheriff's deputies responded to the Clermont home shortly before 6 p.m. last Tuesday after a 911 caller reported two people injured in a fight involving broken glass, according to the arrest affidavit as reported by WESH 2 News. When deputies arrived, they found Shavannah Nechole Stafford's mother covered in blood, with a cut on her left elbow in addition to the head wound. She was taken to Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center, which serves as Central Florida's only Level 1 Trauma Center for adults, capable of round-the-clock specialized surgical care for life-threatening injuries.

According to the affidavit, Stafford's mother told deputies that her daughter struck her with a fan and a lamp, then picked up a glass shard and stabbed her with it. She also said Stafford tried to hit her with a glass jar, and that she grabbed the jar herself and struck Stafford with it, causing it to shatter. Stafford gave deputies a conflicting account, telling them her mother attacked her first with the fan and lamp before breaking the glass jar over her head, and that her mother's injuries came from rolling around on the broken glass during the struggle. Deputies noted that Stafford had pieces of glass in her hair and a small cut on her right pinkie.

Deputies Name Stafford the Primary Aggressor

Despite the competing accounts from mother and daughter, Lake County Sheriff's deputies identified Stafford as the primary aggressor in the altercation. She was evaluated at Orlando Health South Lake Hospital, which has served as South Lake County's primary community hospital and emergency care facility on Don Wickham Drive in Clermont since 1947, before deputies arrested her upon her release. Stafford was charged with one felony count of aggravated battery in a domestic case, had bail set at $5,000, and was ordered to have no contact with her mother.

Florida law treats the charge as serious. Under Florida Statute § 784.045, aggravated battery involving a deadly weapon or causing great bodily harm is classified as a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in state prison, 15 years of probation, and a fine of up to $10,000, according to information published by criminal defense attorneys at FL Criminal Defender. Separately, Florida Statute § 741.28 makes domestic violence battery charges involving family or household members ineligible for record sealing or expungement, meaning a conviction — or even a withheld adjudication — would leave Stafford with a permanent criminal record, per Hussein & Webber, PL.

A Documented History of Violent Charges

Court records reviewed by deputies show this is not Stafford's first brush with battery allegations. A criminal history check found she was previously convicted of simple battery and aggravated battery in 2016, according to the arrest report relayed by South Lake Tablet. Booking records also show Stafford was arrested in December 2020 on charges including second-degree felony domestic aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and first-degree felony cruelty toward a child, according to Arrests.org booking data.

Domestic violence remains a persistent public safety issue across Lake County and Florida more broadly. Uniform Crime Reporting data from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement shows the Lake County Sheriff's Office processed 927 total domestic violence offenses in a single reporting year, including 120 aggravated assaults and 750 simple assaults. Statewide, the Florida Department of Children and Families has reported more than 100,000 domestic violence crimes annually, resulting in over 63,000 arrests. Under standard sheriff's office procedure, domestic violence incident reports like the one generated in Stafford's case are automatically forwarded to Haven of Lake & Sumter Counties, a certified local shelter that provides emergency housing, legal advocacy and crisis counseling to survivors.

It remains unclear how Stafford's mother is currently recovering after being hospitalized, and whether prosecutors will pursue additional charges or a protective injunction ahead of future court proceedings.