Ex-boyfriend ‘stamped on pregnant girl to kill their baby’
A TEACHING assistant repeatedly stamped on the stomach of his heavily-pregnant ex-girlfriend, killing their unborn son, after she refused to have an abortion, a court heard yesterday.
Kevin Wilson launched the ‘ callous and cowardly attack’ on Malorie Bantala as she walked home with decorations for her baby shower, it was said.
Wilson, 22, and a 17-year- old alleged accomplice wore motorbike helmets and scarves for disguise as they ‘deliberately targeted her stomach in order to destroy her unborn baby’. She called out her ex-boyfriend’s name to try to get him to stop, the court heard.
Miss Bantala, 22, who was eight months pregnant, suffered a broken hand as she tried to shield her stomach from the blows.
Doctors in hospital could not find a heartbeat and the baby was delivered stillborn by emergency Caesarean section.
Miss Bantala suffered serious internal bleeding and needed lifesaving surgery after the attack in Peckham, South London, in June.
Jonathan Rees QC, prosecuting, said: ‘It was a cowardly and callous attack, each male wearing a motorcycle helmet in an apparent effort to conceal his identity. [Wilson] took matters into his own hands and decided that he would end the pregnancy by violence. He recruited the second defendant to help him.’
Describing the attack, he said: ‘Within seconds she found herself on the floor and Kevin Wilson began to stamp on and kick at her belly. They were vicious blows.
‘The second male attacked her from behind. It seemed to Miss Bantala that the males were deliberately aiming blows at her belly. Who would wish to do such a wicked thing?’ said Mr Rees.
‘of course, if the purpose of this attack was to target the unborn baby, then it is difficult to see who else, other than Kevin Wilson, would have such a strong motive. [Wilson] had made it clear that he didn’t want the baby to be born and was not pleased when Miss Bantala informed others that he was the father.’
Miss Bantala met Wilson in 2011 before they both became students at the university of Bedfordshire in Luton
They had a sexual relationship but split up, before getting back together in the summer of 2014 after finishing university. Miss Bantala, who works at Marks and Spencer, fell pregnant in November last year, the old Bailey heard.
She told Wilson, who said he was not ready to have a child and when Miss Bantala said she was keeping the baby he allegedly said: ‘Why are you doing this to me?’
He arranged for her to have a consultation at an abortion clinic and ‘asked her to do him a favour by having an abortion’, the court was told.
‘She told him that if he didn’t want the baby he could just leave, but he replied that it wasn’t an option and she needed to get rid of it,’ Mr Rees said. ‘He said that she was being selfish. He told her that he was going to commit suicide and threatened to take a picture before he did it so he could inflict the same pain on her as she was inflicted on him.’
Miss Bantala told Wilson’s mother, Florence Bloomer, that he was the father of her baby.
But he denied it, calling Miss Bantala a ‘jezzy’ – slang for whore – and spread rumours that she had slept with a lot of men, it was said.
Wilson, of Bermondsey, South London and a 17-year- old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, deny causing grievous bodily harm with intent and child destruction.
The trial continues.
‘They targeted her stomach’