A city woman reportedly told police she didn't intend to stab her ex-boyfriend in the stomach, she just meant to scare him by waving a knife.

"I don't think that's right because he got stabbed," City Police Sgt. Mark Peffer said Monday, during a preliminary hearing for defendant Diana Cravenor. "But that's what she said."

District Judge Pete Shaffer, who presided over Cravenor's hearing, decided there was enough evidence to hold the 30-year-old city woman for trial on charges of aggravated and simple assault, reckless endangerment and false reports to law enforcement.

The judge's decision overruled defense attorney Rebecca Lozzi's appeal to drop the case because the reported victim, 28-year-old James McKenna, did not attend and testify.

Cravenor and McKenna, parents of a 4-month-old child, apparently were arguing inside Cravenor's 302 N. Main St. apartment at around 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 26.

Police testimony indicated the pair were no longer a couple, but McKenna still was upset by what he believed to be inappropriate contact between Cravenor and another man.

Cravenor told police she yelled at McKenna to leave her bedroom, then struck him with her hands before unfolding a 2½-inch knife.

Cravenor later allegedly told police she picked up the knife, which belonged to her, to scare McKenna and made a movement toward him.

But she said she didn't intend to stab him.

Peffer testified that Cravenor told him she "had to pull the knife out" of her ex-boyfriend's abdomen before she and a friend used a blanket to stop the blood and called 911.

Peffer said the staff at Butler Memorial Hospital, who treated McKenna, said the stab wound "could have been a life-threatening injury."

Instead, McKenna was stitched and released the same day, authorities said.

Initially, Cravenor reportedly told investigators that someone else had stabbed McKenna, and he had come to her home for help.

Police were suspicious of that story because McKenna was bleeding profusely, and his leather coat had no blood on it.

Later, Cravenor reportedly told police McKenna was in her home, stabbed, when she got home.

Police taped the final interview, in which she reportedly claimed she had the knife but never intended to stab McKenna.

Cravenor remains in the Butler County Prison, unable to post a $25,000 bond. Her formal arraignment is scheduled in Butler County Court March 14.

Lozzi said when the case gets to the court, she will renew her request to drop the case based on the lack of victim testimony.

Already Cravenor has a conviction from a previous argument with McKenna.

Court records show that Cravenor was arrested in September 2004 for hitting McKenna in the arm with a soup can and in the head with a plastic pitcher.

She pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct, and was sentenced to 12 months' probation.