Nigerian Man Jailed For Nine Years In Ireland For F0rcing Woman To Take Ab0rtion Pills
Nigerian Man Jailed For Nine Years In Ireland For Forcing Woman To Take Abortion Pills
The convict was sentenced on Thursday at Letterkenny Circuit Court in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, the BBC reported.
ANigerian national identified as Adeleke Adelani, has been sentenced to nine years in prison by an Irish court for forcing a woman to take abortion pills and unlawfully causing the termination of her pregnancy in what a judge described as an “extreme act of physical and emotional violence.”
The convict was sentenced on Thursday at Letterkenny Circuit Court in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, the BBC reported.
Adelani had earlier pleaded guilty to unlawfully ending the life of a foetus on February 14, 2020 in Letterkenny. He was handed an 11-year prison term, with the final two years suspended, for causing the unlawful termination of a pregnancy.
He also received a five-year sentence, with the last 12 months suspended, for assault causing harm. Both sentences are to run concurrently.
Adelani is currently serving a separate seven-year prison term for another offence.
Delivering judgment, Judge John Aylmer described the crime as “extremely premeditated,” stating that it involved significant planning and internet research.
He said the defendant was fully aware of the woman’s expressed wish to keep her baby and the devastating emotional consequences of terminating the pregnancy without her consent.
Court proceedings revealed that the woman became pregnant by Adelani in 2019, and both parties had agreed to terminate that pregnancy. However, when she became pregnant again in 2020, she decided to keep the baby.
On Valentine’s Day in 2020, Adelani invited the woman to his home in Donegal under the impression that he supported her decision. Instead, prosecutors told the court, he forced her to ingest five 200mg misoprostol tablets, medication typically prescribed and administered under medical supervision.
The court heard that Adelani threatened to beat the nine-week-old foetus out of her if she refused to take the tablets.
After compelling her to swallow them and instructing her on how to do so, he locked her in a bedroom before leaving the house to purchase a pregnancy test.
The woman, who had met Adelani on Snapchat, contacted gardaí, the Irish police, at approximately 14:20 on February 14, 2020.
Officers arrived at the property shortly after and arrested him at the scene.
His mobile phone was seized but remained locked for four years as he refused to provide the PIN. Investigators eventually gained access to the device before his scheduled trial in November 2025.
A recorded conversation retrieved from the phone, in which Adelani told the woman she had to undergo an abortion, was played in open court.
Medical evidence presented showed the woman became seriously unwell after being forced to take the tablets. She developed a fever, suffered severe cramps, shivered uncontrollably, and experienced intense pain while passing blood clots.
In a victim impact statement read during proceedings, the woman said she had forgiven the defendant but made clear that forgiveness did not equate to acceptance of his actions.
“When he wrongfully imprisoned me and caused the termination of my nine-week pregnancy, he took far more than my freedom,” she said. “He took my child. He took my sense of safety. He took a future that I had already begun to plan and love.”
During police interviews, the court heard Adelani made no admissions and was non-compliant. In a letter read aloud in court, he later claimed to take full responsibility for his actions and apologised for the pain caused.
Following sentencing, Detective Inspector Paul McGee commended the victim’s “unwavering strength and resolve” throughout the investigation and trial.
