Police: Elderly South Miami-Dade woman attacked child with hammer

An elderly Richmond Heights woman wielding a metal hammer bashed in the head of a 10-year-old as the girl sat listening to music and playing on her tablet, police said.

Iona Aiken, 79, was slated to appear in Miami-Dade bond court Tuesday. She is charged with aggravated child abuse.

The girl — hit four times on the head with the hammer, once on the shoulder — suffered a concussion and a cut to the head but survived, according to a Miami-Dade police report.

She had been playing on her tablet in the living room of their South Miami-Dade home when Aiken “without warning and for unknown reasons” attacked her, police said.

The girl’s cries alerted her mother, who rushed in and wrestled the hammer away before running to a neighbor’s house to call 911.

The police report did not detail how Aiken was related to the girl. Paramedics rushed the girl to Baptist Hospital. Detectives arrested Aiken, who has no previous arrests in Miami-Dade.

A woman identifying herself as Aiken’s daughter declined comment on Tuesday.

This story was originally published December 30, 2014 at 11:49 AM with the headline "Police: Elderly South Miami-Dade woman attacked child with hammer."