Pregnant teenager had detergent forced into her mouth to make her miscarry
Baby survived despit 'sickening, savage' assault, police say
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Three people who brutally beat a pregnant teenager and forced detergent into her mouth in a bid to trigger a miscarriage have been jailed.
The 17-year-old was subjected to a “ferocious and prolonged” attack lasting well over 20 minutes after she refused to abort her pregnancy as her boyfriend, Harief Pearson, had demanded, Harrow Crown Court heard.
Analysis of the 22-year-old’s phone showed he had researched ways to cause miscarriages in early pregnancy.
The attack took place less than two weeks before Christmas after the girl arrived at Pearson’s home in Harlesden, west London, Scotland Yard said.
Pearson and the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, argued while a second girl, aged 15 but now 16, was also present, the court heard. When she said she wanted to leave Pearson took her phone and prevented her from doing so.
Shorlty afterwards, Pearson's friend Kydie McKenna, also 22, turned up.
After Pearson left the room and McKenna and the other girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, began assaulting the soon to be mother.
Pulling the victim to the floor, they repeatedly kicked her in the face, back and stomach, telling her the beating was intended to end her pregnancy.
Around 20 minutes later, police said Pearson came back into the room and told the attackers to stop.
He then asked the victim if she thought she had miscarried, before ordering that the assault continue.
At this point, the 15-year-old girl forced detergent into the victim’s mouth.
Her ordeal only ended when Pearson feared his mother was about to return home.
But he threatened to take out a contract on his girlfriend’s life worth £10,000 if she told police about the attack.
The victim nonetheless convinced McKenna to call an ambulance and she told doctors what happened after she arrived at hospital. They in turn, called police.
Pearson and the girl were arrested on 12 December while McKenna was tracked down over a month later.
The girl’s child survived, London's Metropolitan Police said.
“This was a ferocious and prolonged attack on a vulnerable young girl who was held against her will and savagely beaten," said Detective Constable Nick Lee. “While Pearson did not actually take part in the physical violence, he clearly plotted it and used McKenna and the 16-year-old girl to carry out his plan to cause the victim to miscarry her unborn child.
“Only when Pearson thought the victim had miscarried, did the assault end. His actions were truly sickening. Thankfully, the baby was unharmed and I hope this sentencing give the victim some closure, and provides her with the strength she’ll need as she embarks on the next chapter of her life as a mother.”
Pearson and McKenna, who had admitted trying to pervert the cause of justice and attempted grievous bodily harm (GBH), were sentenced to 11 and 10 years in prison respectively plus two years each on licence.
The girl, now 16, was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to theft, attempted GBH, administering a poison to cause a miscarriage and false imprisonment.