Woman found guilty of killing foetus
Friday, 06/02/2015
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=124304&boxid=64333&uid=&dat=2015-02-06
New York : A 33-year-old Indian-American woman has been found guilty of felony child neglect and foeticide charges over the death of her unborn child and faces upto 70 years in prison.
Purvi Patel of Granger, Indiana was accused of using abortion pills to kill her unborn child in July 2013 and then throwing the baby in a plastic bag in a dumpster near a restaurant her parents owned. The verdict in the 6-day trial came after five hours of jury deliberation on Tuesday.
A report in ABC News said Patel used abortion drugs she bought online from Hong Kong without a prescription to terminate the secret pregnancy caused by a married man.
“There were two crimes. The first crime performing an abortion without going to a doctor in Indiana and that obviously led to disastrous consequences,” said Deputy Prosecutor Mark Roule. “After that, she made a terrible choice - neglect of a dependent and that’s the substance of count one.” Roule told jurors that the baby was born on the bathroom floor at Patel’s home. She wrapped him in plastic bags and put him in a dumpster behind her family restaurant. Roule said when Patel’s pain and bleeding would not stop, she went to the emergency room.
“She continued to lie to doctors and nurses...she tried to keep secret the fact that she’d been responsible for another life,” Roule said.
