A 26-year-old woman accused of attempting to kill her 3-year-old daughter was indicted today on a charge of attempted second-degree murder.

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

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

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.

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

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 husband intervened and took control of the knife, the prosecutor said.

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