In London, 21-year-old Malorie Bantala was violently assaulted by her ex-boyfriend and lost her 32-week old baby. The man involved in the incident, Kevin Wilson, has been arrested and charged with “child destruction” and “grievous bodily harm”.
The Guardian reports that it is likely that the attack will be treated as “akin to murder” since the man was trying to kill the baby.
The assault occurred while Bantala was walking in a residential neighborhood and two men wearing motorcycle helmets approached her. Then they pushed her to the ground and started beating her and pouncing on her stomach. Now the woman is in critical condition at a south London hospital and her baby is dead.
Additionally, it’s been reported that Bantala had to wait over an hour for an ambulance that never arrived after the attack was reported. A spokesperson from London’s Ambulance Service said, “We were called at 8.16pm on 15 June to Talfourd Place, SE15. We are very sorry that we were unable to send an ambulance before we were cancelled by the police at 9.25pm and are now looking into the circumstances of what happened.”
The lead investigator on the case, DCI Robert Pack, said the following about the vicious attack: “[A suspect] has been arrested on GBH [grievous bodily harm] with intent to the young mum-to-be herself, and also child destruction for what happened to her unborn, sadly passed away, foetus.” He also mentioned that he had never witnessed a crime like this. He added, “It’s an indication of how seriously the Metropolitan police are taking this that it’s been passed to my team, the homicide and serious crime command. We are treating this with all the resources and seriousness of a murder investigation.”
The woman’s mother, Ida Bantala, was devastated about her daughter’s condition. She said, “I wanted to be a grandma. She was so happy and now she is sick in hospital. I had seen a man hanging around with a crash helmet but I had no idea that it would turn out like this or it was anything to do with Malorie. The police have been good – they have to catch whoever did this to my precious daughter.”
As LifeNews previously reported, in the United States, George W. Bush signed into law The Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004, which makes it a crime to harm an embryo or fetus at any stage of pregnancy during an assault on a pregnant woman. Some 31 states have similar laws in place that provide for a second crime against the assailant when an unborn baby is killed or injured in the course of an attack on his or her mother.
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Here’s more on Wilson’s appearance in court:
Tall and bearded Wilson appeared in custody charged with child destruction and grievous bodily harm with intent. The accused looked around the courtroom as he entered the dock.
Wearing a grey tracksuit and flanked by two security officers, he replied “yes” three times as he was asked by the court clerk to confirm his name, address date of birth.
His father, two brothers, and a number of his cousins and friends packed the public gallery.
In the first count, Wilson is charged with “intent to destroy the life of a child capable of being born alive, by a willful act, namely kicking and stamping on the stomach of the 32-week pregnant mother, causing the child to die before it had any existence independent of its mother”.
In the second count, Wilson is charged with “unlawfully and maliciously” causing grievous bodily harm to Miss Bantala with intent.
Wilson, of Bermondsey, south east London, was remanded in custody ahead of a preliminary hearing at Woolwich Crown Court.
