A man who hid from police for 10 years after spiking his pregnant girlfriend’s drink with abortion drugs was sentenced to 22 years in prison Tuesday.
Manishkumar Patel, 45, of Wisconsin, was convicted of attempted first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child in August. On Tuesday, Outagamie County Judge John Des Jardins sentenced Patel to 22 years in prison plus four years of extended supervision, according to the Post Crescent.
According to reports, the girlfriend did not ingest the spiked drink in 2007; however, she did later miscarry their unborn baby or babies. Some reports said she was carrying twins.
Patel told the judge Tuesday that he is sorry for what he did, according to the local news.
“I have had plenty of time to think about what I did,” he said. “I have no excuse or explanation for my actions.”
Here’s more from the report:
Patel admitted to obtaining the drug and giving it to his girlfriend when she was pregnant. At the time, Patel said, he justified his actions because their other child had a lifelong medical condition.
“I was convinced my unborn child would suffer the same fate,” he said. “This did not excuse what I did.”
He also sought to explain why he fled the U.S. for India after he was charged. His father’s health seemed to be failing, Patel said, and he felt he needed to see him for what he thought would be the last time.
He claimed he came back because he wanted to resolve the matter before the court.
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“I made the decision to return, even though I knew it would cost me my freedom,” he said.
Patel ran from authorities for 10 years. In 2017, authorities found him in New York and returned him to Wisconsin to face charges.
According to a 2007 Fox 11 report, an investigation in the case began in November 2007 when Patel’s girlfriend reported the suspected forced abortion attempt to authorities.
The girlfriend said she thought Patel had slipped an abortion drug into her smoothie. The station reported that Patel later admitted as much to authorities, but then skipped town.
As LifeNews previously reported, the former girlfriend said Patel hurt her to the extent that she jumped from a moving vehicle once to escape him. She obtained a restraining order against Patel about a month before he was charged with trying to force her to abort her unborn baby or babies.
According to court records the Associated Press obtained, the girlfriend said Manishkumar abused her physically and emotionally on repeated occasions but she stayed with him even though his divorce with another woman was not finalized.
She said she became suspicious after she had two miscarriages in one year and noticed white powder in the smoothie that he had purchased for her.
Police later confirmed the powder was an abortion drug; they suspected Patel purchased it in India.
In 2017, authorities said they arrested Patel near the Canadian border in New York when he showed a fraudulent passport that expired in December 2016, the Post Crescent previously reported.
