Addison mom accused of stabbing 3-year-old son
An Addison woman was charged with aggravated battery to a child for stabbing her 3-year-old son in the neck the same weekend her ex-husband remarried, authorities said.
Sameera Samreen, 28, remained jailed on $1 million bail Friday, six days after authorities said she attacked her child.
Court records show Samreen was granted custody of her toddler son when she and her husband of five years divorced in February. Prosecutors said she knifed the child in the neck this past weekend, when her ex-husband remarried.
“The allegations against Ms. Samreen are very disturbing,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said Friday. “Children are our most precious and valuable asset, and we must do everything we can to protect them.”
The alleged stabbing happened in Samreen’s home on the 900 block of North Rowling Road about 8 p.m. Saturday.
Prosecutors said the boy received stitches for a 5-centimeter slash that transected his jugular vein. Samreen also cut her own neck and was treated for injuries, authorities said.
According to DuPage court records, Samreen and her husband had been living apart about two years when she filed for divorce in June. On Feb. 9, the divorce was finalized, with Samreen taking sole custody of their only child, and her ex-husband received supervised weekly visits, records show.
In her initial divorce petition, Samreen had accused the boy’s father of mental and physical cruelty, which he flatly denied, according to court records. In their final arrangement, the couple agreed they were each fit parents, records show.
A spokesman for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services confirmed Friday the agency has launched an investigation into the case but said it had no prior contact with the family.
Samreen has been ordered to wear a tracking device and to have no contact with her son should she come up with the necessary $100,000 to bond out of jail. She is scheduled to appear April 26 in front of Circuit Judge Blanche Hill Fawell.
Prosecutors said additional charges might be lodged after the case proceeds to a grand jury. If convicted as charged, Samreen could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.