Sarah Catt aborted her baby at 40 weeks: judge says it might be murder
SARAH Catt, 35, from North Yorkshire, is starting an eight year prison sentence for ending her pregnancy within a week of her due date. Sarah Catt is married to the man with whom she has two children. She believed the baby she aborted was the result of an affair.
She bought Misoprostol over the internet from a soutce in Mumbai, India.
You might call it an abortion.
At Leeds Crown Court, Mr Justice Cooke called it something between manslaughter and murder:
“The critical element of your offending is the deliberate choice made by you, in full knowledge of the due date of your child, to terminate the pregnancy at somewhere close to term, if not actually at term, with the full knowledge that termination after week 24 was unlawful and in full knowledge your child’s birth was imminent. What you did was end the life of a child that was capable of being born alive by inducing birth or miscarriage. What you have done is rob an apparently healthy child, vulnerable and defenceless, of the life which he was about to commence…
“I see no need for a report from a psychologist. This was a cold calculated decision that you took for your own convenience and in your own self interest alone.”
No body has been found. Catt claimed it had been stillborn. Her husband never knew she was pregnant.
“The child in the womb was so near to birth, in my judgment all right-thinking people would think this offence more serious than unintentional manslaughter.”
The BBC adds:
The defendant gave a child up for adoption in 1999, the court was told.She later had a termination with the agreement of her husband, tried to terminate another pregnancy but missed the legal limit and concealed another pregnancy from her husband before the child’s birth.
Hard not to have a view.
Posted: 17th, September 2012 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
