Attacking pregnant women is exceedingly cruel, and there is always a second potential victim. Unfortunately, in the case of the strangling of Isobel Parker, both of the two victims did not survive.
Parker was found dead at her home in Burnham, Essex, England, on July 17, 2015 according to ITV. Parker reportedly had ended her relationship with Matthew Smith seven months earlier. She had two children with him.
When he found out she was pregnant with her new partner, Smith planned to confront Parker at her house, according to the report. There, police said Smith murdered Parker with cable ties. Authorities were not able to save her or her unborn baby. According to the report, Parker was six months pregnant.
“We have been denied of our beautiful daughter and unborn granddaughter,” Parker’s parents said in a statement.
The father of the killed unborn baby said, “The child would have been a little girl called Charmaine.” He added, “We were so looking forward to the birth of our first child together.”
Detective Chief Inspector Martin Pasmore of the case said, “When Smith finally realized there was no chance of reconciliation, he strangled her with plastic cable ties, killing her and her unborn baby daughter.”
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Smith was convicted of murder on Monday but is still waiting for sentencing, according to the report.
In December, LifeNews reported another domestic violence case where a British pregnant woman and her unborn child were almost killed in a torturous attack. The Daily Mail reported that an acquaintance of the pregnant woman stabbed her in the stomach with a knife after she told him that she was pregnant. Nathaniel Robinson, who later pled guilty to the attack, reportedly forced the woman to call her boyfriend on speakerphone so that he could hear her screams.
Domestic violence against pregnant women and their unborn babies is startlingly high. One in six women is first abused during pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
