The UMAGAT Children - Houston TX

A 28-year-old woman accused of stabbing two children will remain behind bars without bail, a Houston judge ruled this morning.

Prosecutors said
they wanted to monitor the conditions of a 10-year-old boy and his
9-year-old sister who remain in the hospital in serious condition
before Regina Umagat is granted bond.

Assistant District
Attorney Tammy Thomas told state District Judge Jan Krocker that
Umagat, who is from Guam, also may be a flight risk.

In court, Thomas
said the girl, who is in worse condition than her brother, was stabbed
three times. The boy, who police believe was protecting his sister, had
18 stab wounds.

During her brief arraignment, Umagat said she did not have money to hire an attorney and asked that a lawyer be appointed.

Umagat is the niece
of the children's grandmother. She is charged with two counts of injury
to a child with serious bodily injury after being accused of stabbing
the two at the home of the children's grandparents in the 8100 block of
Greens Road about 8 p.m. Wednesday, investigators said.

Officials said Umagat is being evaluated for mental competence.

A neighbor called
police and said a woman was banging on her door, screaming that she had
“stabbed the children,” said Deputy Thomas Gilliland, spokesman for the
Harris County Sheriff's Department.

Deputies said they
found a bloody Umagat lying in the driveway of the neighbor's home, her
hands folded behind her head. She told deputies that she had stabbed
the children, officials said.

Houston Child
Protective Services spokeswoman Estella Olguin said the boy was able to
call his grandparents, who had gone to the store and left the children
in Umagat's care.

The grandparents,
who are in the process of adopting the children, took them to a nearby
hospital, and they were flown by helicopter ambulance to the Medical
Center.