Woman forced to take abortion pills says she will always grieve her child

Stephen Maguire

A man who caused the unlawful termination of a pregnancy of a woman after forcing her to take five 'abortion' pills and then locking her in a room is to be sentenced next week.

The man, who is in his 20s, said that he would beat her nine-week-old foetus out of her if she did not take the tablets on St Valentine's Day in 2020.

The accused appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court before Judge John Aylmer for sentencing in what is believed to be one of the first such cases in the country.

He previously pleaded guilty to the charge that he unlawfully ended the life of a foetus, contrary to section 23.2 of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018.

The charge relates to administering, supplying or procuring any drug, substance, instrument, apparatus, or other thing knowing that it was intended to be used or employed with intent to end the life of a foetus, or being reckless as to whether it was intended to be so used or employed.

He also pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting the woman and causing her harm, contrary to section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997.

Gardaí outlined the incidents to barrister for the state, Mr Paul Greene, with Fiona Crawford.

He outlined how gardaí arrived at what was believed to be a domestic incident at a house just before 2:20pm on the date in question.

They found a woman in the house and it coincided with the man coming back to the house.

The woman, who is now aged in her 20s, outlined how she had been forced to take the tablets which the man had procured from a pharmacy in Dublin.

The court was told the accused had been a student and that he had met the woman on Snapchat.

The woman initially became pregnant with the accused in October 2019 and they both decided to abort the baby with help from a doctor who prescribed abortion tablets.

The woman became pregnant again in January 2020 and decided to keep the baby having visited a friend and discussing her situation.

The accused was due to go on holiday on February 7th but when he heard that the woman had skipped an appointment to see her GP as she now wished to keep the child, he cancelled the holiday.

He invited the woman to his home in Donegal under the belief that he too wanted to keep the baby and they both went to his home where he turned on her.

A conversation between the man and his victim when he told her she had to have an abortion was played to the courtroom.

In the exchange, the accused is heard making most of the conversation while music plays in the background.

The court was told that the man forced the woman to take five misoprostol 200mg tablets, told her how to swallow them and then locked her in a bedroom.

He is heard telling the woman "I’m showing you what to do... take this... I’m dead serious... I’m forcing you. I don’t care, take it."

He is also heard saying "“It’s either you eat this or I beat that kid out of you tonight. I’m dead serious...I’m forcing you. I don’t care. Take it.”

The evidence of the conversation on the accused man's phone could not be accessed until two weeks before he was previously due to stand trial because he refused to give gardaí his pin number for his phone for more than four years.

When they eventually managed to access the pin number, his phone history showed him accessing information including searches for how to perform an abortion.

When questioned by gardaí, the man said he was not the woman's boyfriend but that they were just "f***ing."

Evidence was given how the woman reacted badly after being given the tablets.

She came down with a fever, she was shivering and she also had cramps.

She went to the toilet at one stage and she was passing large clots of blood and she was in great pain, the court was told.

After this had happened, the accused went out and bought a pregnancy test and the woman saw her chance and called gardaí.

This was when gardaí called to the house and the woman was taken to hospital to be treated at a Sexual Assault Treatment Unit.

The accused was arrested but despite being interviewed four times, he made no admissions, said the Garda.

The woman said she would like to read out her own victim impact statement and said that what the defendant did to her did not end when the crime was over.

Sitting just feet from the accused, the woman said: "When he wrongfully imprisoned me and caused the termination of my nine-week pregnancy, he took far more than my freedom. He took my child. He took my sense of safety.

"He took a future that I had already begun to plan and love. My baby was real to me. I had hopes, dreams, and a bond with the life that was growing inside me, and all of it was violently stolen from me in a moment of cruelty that I will never forget.

"The fact that this happened on Valentine’s Day makes the pain even deeper. A day meant to represent and celebrate love became the day he showed hatred not just toward me, but toward my unborn child.

"While the world celebrated love, I was trapped, terrified, and losing my baby at the hands of someone I thought I could trust instead chose violence and not care."

She added that after the crime, the man's denial caused another layer of harm for her.

"I was left feeling invisible and alone. I lost friends through him denying what he did to me and my unborn child. I lost the support I needed to help me through that time.

"During COVID, when the world was already isolating, I carried this trauma largely by myself. I tried to distract myself just to survive the grief, the shock, and the emptiness left behind by the loss of my child and the life I believed I was going to have.

"For a time, I lost myself. It changed how I saw the world, how I trusted, and how I understood love. But I want the Court to know that I did not remain in that darkness.

"Through healing and faith, I opened my heart again. I found love not only in my amazing husband, who treats me with the love, dignity and kindness I always deserved, but in Christ, who carried me when I could not carry myself. My faith gave me strength when I was broken, and it gave me peace when I thought I would never feel whole again.

"I would also like to say something that stems from that faith. I have forgiven the defendant. The forgiveness does not mean what he did was acceptable. It means I refuse to let what he did continue to control my heart and my life.

"I truly hope that during his time in custody he will use the opportunity to seek God, reflect on the harm he caused not just to me but to anyone he has ever affected either in this same way or another, and I hope he genuinely chooses to become a better person by the time his sentence is complete."

The woman added that even with healing and forgiveness, the impact of this crime remains with her.

She said "I will always grieve my child. I will always remember what was taken from me. Healing does not erase the loss, it only means I learned how to live with it.

"I am here today to ensure justice is served and to honour my baby, my truth, and the strength it took to survive this. What happened mattered. My child mattered. And justice matters."

The prosecution case was led by Greene, with Fiona Crawford, instructed by State Solicitor Mr Kieran Dillon. The accused man was represented by James McGowan, with Sean McGee, instructed by solicitor Rory O’Brien.

In mitigation, barrister for the accused, McGowan, said his client had struggled with his mental health and had been involved in drug misuse.

His early teenage years were disruptive and chaotic and that he had been expelled from school a number of times but had completed his education.

In a letter to his victim, which was read in court, the accused man said he now takes full responsibility for his actions.

He said he was “heavily apologising” for the pain he caused and added: “It was also my child and a hole was also pierced in my heart”.

He said: “The thought of the pain I caused weighed heavily. I am now summoning the strength to face you and say sorry; not because I got caught but because I took away something that can never be replaced.”

The man said he has been studying conflict resolution while in prison and the court heard that the defendant’s current partner is now three months pregnant. The man said he wants to support his partner, raise his child and “be the man my family needs me to be”.

He pleaded with Judge Aylmer for a second chance and his letter concluded: “I won’t take it for granted, if given.”

Judge Aylmer adjourned the case for final sentencing at a future date.