A UK man received 12 years in jail for sexually assaulting a pregnant woman and poisoning her with abortion drugs, causing her to have a miscarriage.
Stuart Worby, 40, procured the abortion medications mifepristone and misoprostol through a friend, Nueza Cepada, who was asked to pose as a woman needing an abortion during a phone consultation. She was then sent the pills in the mail and gave them to Worby, BBC reports.
Norwich Crown Court heard how Worby crushed up the mifepristone in a glass of orange juice and administered it to the victim, who has not been named for legal purposes. Worby then gave her the misoprostol the next day while she was blindfolded under the guise of “kinky sex.” The woman’s 15-week-old baby was then aborted the next day in the summer of 2022.
Per Norfolk Police, the woman initially thought she miscarried spontaneously but then became suspicious and contacted investigators when she saw messages to his friend Wayne Finney, Cepada’s boyfriend, saying “It’s working” and “There’s a lot of blood.”
Worby admitted to obtaining the abortion medication illegally but denied giving it to the woman. He was ultimately convicted unanimously by a jury of two counts of sexual assault and of administering a poison or using an instrument with intent to procure a miscarriage.
“You must have known this was dangerous for the victim,” said Judge Joel Brennathan during sentencing. “She spoke of the betrayal and pain and the strong possibility that you have stolen the one possibility she had to be a mother. You are a selfish man.”
During her victim impact statement, the woman revealed she has not been able to conceive since the incident. “The only baby that I could have had was the one I lost,” she said.
Cepeda admitted her role in the crime and to producing an instrument to be used with the intent to procure a miscarriage and was sentenced to 22 months in jail. Her partner Finney was initially accused of intentionally encouraging or assisting Cepeda but was ultimately cleared by the jury.
Lead investigator Det Insp Duncan Woodhams spoke of the case as one of the most shocking he had seen. “Our thoughts remain with the victim who has suffered greatly as a result of Worby’s merciless actions and the subsequent trial,” he said after sentencing was over. “It is difficult to imagine a more despicable crime. This took detailed planning and manipulation of the victim to inflict such lethal violence on her unborn child. Worby has shown no remorse and there is no mitigation. He wanted to exert control in the most heinous manner and has now deservedly been punished for it.”
This Story originally came from humanevents.com