A 26-year-old mother accused of attempting to kill her 3-year-old daughter "has prior mental health issues" and may not have been taking medication, a city prosecutor said yesterday.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jeen Kwak also said the defendant, Elly M. Rivera, blamed the attack on "voices" who were threatening her children.

Rivera also threatened to take her own life with a knife after the incident but her husband and 9-year-old son intervened and took the knife away, Kwak said.

The prosecutor's comments came after a grand jury indicted Rivera on a charge of attempted second-degree murder.

Rivera was arrested Sunday evening at her Pearl Harbor home after allegedly attempting to choke her daughter. The child was hospitalized but her father, Army Staff Sgt. Jesse Y. Rivera, said Wednesday the girl was recovering.

Kwak said yesterday she had no additional information about the condition of the little girl.

The voices Elly Rivera reported hearing "were telling her that they were going to burn and kill the kids," according to police records filed in the case.

She told her husband "she didn't want the kids to suffer," Kwak said yesterday.

The 9-year-old told Jesse Rivera about 8:30 p.m. Sunday that the toddler "was not doing good" and that his mother had done something to the little girl, police reported.

After Jesse Rivera found his daughter and called police and an ambulance, Elly Rivera tried to grab a knife, Kwak said.

The defendant allegedly said "it was time for her to go and to pay for what she had done," Kwak said.

But her son and her father intervened and took control of the knife, the prosecutor said.

The defendant is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.