A man forced his former partner to take abortion-causing pills, leading to the death of her nine week old unborn child, Letterkenny Circuit Court has heard.

The incident occurred in Donegal on Valentine’s Day, 2020. The man pleaded guilty in November and a sentencing hearing was held this week.

The court was told the accused had met the woman on Snapchat and she initially became pregnant with him in October 2019. On that occasion they both decided to abort the baby with help from a GP who prescribed abortion drugs.

In January 2020 she became pregnant again by the same man. While she considered another abortion, she ultimately decided against it and skipped an appointment with her doctor on February 6.

Upon hearing this, the man lured her to his home in Donegal and forced her to take five misoprostol 200mg tablets which he had procured from a pharmacy in Dublin.

A recording of their conversation played in court revealed him telling her: “It’s either you eat this or I beat that kid out of you tonight.”

In a victim impact statement, 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”.

She added: “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.

His subsequent denials made matters worse, she said: “I was left feeling invisible and alone. I lost friends through him denying what he did to me and my unborn child”.

Incredibly, the woman said she had since found healing and faith “in Christ, who carried me when I could not carry myself”, and added that she had chosen to forgive her attacker.

Nonetheless, 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.