Man Who Spiked Pregnant Girlfriend's Drink With Abortion-Inducing Drug Gets 22-Year Sentence

A man was sentenced to 22 years in prison Tuesday for mixing an abortion-inducing drug in his girlfriend's drink in Outagamie County, Wisconsin.

Manishkumar Patel, 45, was convicted of “attempted first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child” in August this year. Though the unnamed girlfriend did not ingest the drink, she miscarried weeks later, Fox6 reported.

Patel was arrested in New York in January 2017 after he was absconding since being charged in 2007 and forfeited a $750,000 bond.

He was also sentenced to four years of extended supervision. During the sentencing, which lasted more than two hours, Patel said, “I have had plenty of time to think about what I did. I have no excuse or explanation for my actions,” Post Crescent reported.

In court, he also confessed to purchasing the drug and giving it to his pregnant girlfriend. He justified his actions, saying their other child had a lifelong medical condition and he was afraid this kid too would have it.

“I was convinced my unborn child would suffer the same fate. This did not excuse what I did,” he said.

He also tried explaining why he fled to his home country India after he was charged. He said his father’s health was deteriorating and he felt he needed to see him for what he thought would be the last time. Patel went on to claim he returned as he wanted to resolve the matter before the court.

“I made the decision to return, even though I knew it would cost me my freedom,” he said.

According to a criminal complaint, police first got involved in the matter in 2007 after they spoke to his girlfriend about a series of events that took place shortly before her miscarriage. She said she had known Patel since 1999, and they had a child together in 2004. But, Patel had denied he was the father then. In 2006, she had suffered a miscarriage.

However, when she got pregnant in 2007, he promised he would commit to her. The incident took place when the couple had gone to an ice cream shop for dessert. He went to get her a smoothie while she waited outside in the car. She saw him split the drink into two cups and "frantically" stir the cup. Though she took the drink from him when he returned, she did not drink it. She closely looked into the cup and saw a powder inside. She checked with the employees who denied having any knowledge about it.

She suffered miscarriage and the next week she sent the sample of the drink to a lab in California which confirmed it had drugs to terminate pregnancies.

Patel’s house was searched and police found an envelope containing the drugs used to terminate pregnancies. When asked, Patel told officers they were "abortion pill" that he got from India. He admitted giving his girlfriend "one pill.”

Describing Patel's pattern of behavior as "completely unacceptable at all levels," Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis questioned if he actually cared for his girlfriend during the proceeding.