The Bronx grandmother charged with brutally stabbing her 7-year-old granddaughter in her Morrisania apartment was found fit to stand trial on Monday, prosecutors said.
Maritza Yauger, 65, who is accused of carrying out the shocking Feb. 21 attack that left the innocent youngster in critical condition at Lincoln Hospital, is now poised to stand trial on attempted murder and assault charges.
Yauger was ordered to undergo a thorough psychiatric exam after her arrest — and her lawyers have filed notice in Bronx Supreme Court that they will still pursue a psychiatric defense.
The NYPD’s special victims team enters the crime scene on Feb. 21, 2023. Tomas E. Gaston
The Clinton Avenue building where the stabbing allegedly took place. Google MapsThe arrest shocked friends and neighbors in Yauger’s neighborhood, with locals recalling her doting over her granddaughter by pampering her at a neighborhood hair salon and showering her with sweets and treats.
“She worshipped her granddaughter,” Maria Castillo, a hairdresser at the salon, told The Post after Yauger’s arrest.
“When she brings the granddaughter I said, ‘Why you give her everything?’ She said, ‘I have two sons. I have no daughter. I love my granddaughter,” Castillo said. “I give her everything.”
Police said Yauger suddenly turned on her granddaughter around 8 a.m., stabbing the girl in her neck, stomach and back, leaving her in a pool of blood.
