A Christ Church man admitted on Wednesday that he gave his former girlfriend a drug to cause an abortion over four years ago.
Jon-Erik Kei Grason Thomas, a resident of Rendezvous, pleaded guilty to administering the noxious substance, misoprostol, to the woman on April 2, 2019, with intent to procure a miscarriage.
State Counsel Kevin Forde outlined the facts of the crime, which is an offence under Section 37 Subsection (b) of the Offences Against the Person Act Chapter 141.
According to the prosecutor, Thomas and the complainant were in a relationship from 2018 to January 2019. However, in February of that same year, it was confirmed by a doctor that she was five weeks pregnant and the pregnancy was progressing without any problems.
On April 2, 2019, the two watched a movie at the woman’s home and drank juice.
Thomas, the prosecutor said, subsequently went for a refill. During that time, he crushed the misoprostol pills, placed them in a mug, added juice and gave it to the woman who unknowingly consumed it with encouragement from Thomas to “straight pull it”.
They fell asleep after the movie and the woman woke up the following day bleeding.
She told Thomas what was happening and that she believed she was having a miscarriage. He reportedly responded, “maybe”.
Thomas eventually left and the woman went back to sleep. On waking up, she realised she was still bleeding and went to have something to drink. It was then that she noticed a white residue at the bottom of the cup.
She called Thomas and asked him whether he had put something in her drink, and he responded “no”.
The woman then went to the doctor and was told, among other things, that she would have to wait until the bleeding stopped.
On her return home, she searched the garbage which Thomas had earlier taken out and discovered a Ziplock bag with a piece of tablet. She kept the items.
Forde told the No. 5 Supreme Court presided over by Madam Justice Pamela Beckles that the following month, the woman visited the hospital and after she was examined, the pregnancy was medically terminated due to “non-viability of the foetus”.
She was five months pregnant at the time.
Two months later, on July 2, 2019, she reported the matter to the police and handed over the mug, the Ziplock bag and other evidence.
Investigations commenced and Thomas was subsequently arrested and told of the report.
He said, “I did give her juice with crushed pills that would cause her to miscarry.”
The prosecutor told Justice Beckles the convicted man did not reveal to police where he got the pills but said he purchased them for $150 and was given instructions on how to use them.
He also confessed that he sent the woman a message via WhatsApp telling her that he had given her a drug called misoprostol to drink to make her abort the baby she was carrying.
The substances were analysed at the Forensic Sciences Centre and found “inconclusive” when compared to misoprostol.
The analyst stated that misoprostol has a shelf life of 48 hours and based on the time that had elapsed and the storage conditions, any misoprostol contained in the items examined would have degraded.
The matter against Thomas continues before Justice Beckles on October 31, 2023, when the prosecutor and defence counsel, Safiya Moore, will make submissions on what sentence Thomas should receive on that date.
The judge has also set December 14, 2023 for sentencing.
