A man in his 20s forced a woman, also in her 20s, to take tablets causing the termination of her pregnancy at a location in Co Donegal on Valentine's Day in 2020, Letterkenny Circuit Court has heard.
The man previously admitted he assaulted the victim and forced her to take tablets which caused the abortion of her nine-week-old foetus.
Letterkenny Circuit Court heard that the woman called gardaí after she was forced to take the tablets, when the man left the house to purchase a pregnancy test.
When he returned, the accused man was arrested at the scene. Gardaí seized his phone but he would not provide the pin.
It took gardaí four years to gain access to the phone, because of a programme installed on it.
The court heard that the phone was a vital piece of evidence. Search history contained information on how to conduct an at-home abortion using the tablets.
"While the world celebrated love, I was trapped, terrified, and losing my baby at the hands of someone I thought I could trust"
The phone also contained an audio recording of the incident from when the tablets were forced upon the woman.
A transcript was made available two weeks prior to the listing of the trial. Some recordings from the audio were played in court, among them: "I’m showing you what to do... take this... I’m dead serious... I’m forcing you. I don’t care, take it."
A garda told the court that the man was following a process that he researched, and that the woman was crying throughout the recording.
"She had very little to say during the transcript," the garda told the court.
The woman had visited the accused man at his residence.
The court heard that after they had been intimate and spoke face-to-face, he forced her to take tablets normally prescribed by medical professionals in a controlled environment.
The court heard that the woman felt the tablets began to take effect after 20-30 minutes, and that she felt feverish with cramps - a process induced by the tablets.
The court heard the woman continued to suffer cramps and was in great pain, and that she was locked in a room for a period of time and allowed to go to the bathroom, where she passed large amounts of blood.
The man advised her not to eat.
When he left to get a pregnancy test, she phoned gardaí.
The man was arrested and the woman was brought to a hospital in the region, where she was clinically examined in a sexual assault treatment unit.
She underwent a procedure to remove what was left of the foetus.
The court heard the woman met the man on a mobile messaging application in 2019. She became pregnant several months afterwards, the court heard, and they decided to terminate that pregnancy.
Subsequently, the woman became pregnant again in January 2020. She decided that she wanted to keep the baby.
The court heard that the accused man may have had a belief she was going to terminate the pregnancy, but she did not wish to do so.
The court heard that he had cancelled a planned holiday when he learned the woman was not keeping an appointment to have an abortion.
A garda told the court that the accused, who was interviewed four times, did not make any admissions, was non-compliant and did not look at the woman as a girlfriend.
"I am here today to ensure justice is served and to honour my baby, my truth, and the strength it took to survive this."
The court heard that the man has a number of previous convictions, the dates of which post-date this offence. At that time, the man had no previous convictions.
The court heard the man is heavily involved in fraud and money laundering.
In a victim impact statement that she read into the court, the woman said it did not end when the crime was over, that it became something she carried in her body, mind, and heart.
"When he wrongfully imprisoned me and caused the termination of my nine-week pregnancy, he took far more than my freedom," she said.
She added: "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 woman said.
She said the fact that this happened on Valentine’s Day made the pain deeper, and a day meant to represent and celebrate love became the day the man showed hatred toward her and her 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 said the man’s denial after the crime caused her another level of harm and left her 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.
"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"
"During Covid, when the world was already isolating, I carried this trauma largely by myself.
"For a time, I lost myself. It changed how I saw the world, how I trusted, and how I understood love," she added.
The woman said that she wanted the court to know that she 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," she said.
The woman said her faith gave her strength when she was broken, and it gave her peace when she thought she would never feel whole again.
She also said that, stemming from that faith, she has forgiven the defendant.
"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."
She said she truly hopes that he would use his time in custody to seek God, reflect on the harm he caused, not just to her, but to others he may have affected.
"I hope he genuinely chooses to become a better person by the time his sentence is complete," she said.
The woman said despite the healing and forgiveness, the impact of this crime remains.
"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," she said.
Mitigating information will be provided tomorrow before Judge John Aylmer in Letterkenny Circuit Court.
The man, who is in custody, was due to stand trial in November but he pleaded guilty after a jury was empanelled.
He has pleaded guilty to unlawfully ending the life of a foetus contrary to section 23.2 of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018.
He has also pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting the woman and causing her harm contrary to section three of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997.
The case is believed to be one of the first of its kind in the State.
