California man charged with murdering his ex-girlfriend's unborn baby
A California man is now facing several felony charges including first degree murder after he forced his pregnant ex-girlfriend at gunpoint to take several pills that induced a miscarriage after she initially refused to have an abortion.
Jagmeet Sandhu, 23, of Bakersfield allegedly broke into his ex-girlfriend’s home on the night of Dec. 10, about three weeks after she ended their 10-month relationship over her refusal to have an abortion, according to a Bakersfield police report cited by Bakersfield.com.
She was asleep when Sandhu pointed a gun at her head and demanded she swallow a packet of pills he handed her while she was about 12 weeks pregnant.
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"Take these pills or I'm going to kill you," Sandhu reportedly told the frightened woman who went on to swallow about 11 of the white pills he gave her over the course of three hours.
She subsequently became ill and was rushed to the hospital where a physician told her the pills she ingested caused her to have a miscarriage.
Police told the Associated Press that they received a report shortly after 1 a.m. last Wednesday from someone who claimed that a pregnant family member had been held at gunpoint by her boyfriend, who forced her to take some pills of an unknown type.
"Officers conducted additional follow-up and were able to locate items during several search warrants that linked Mr. Sandhu to this crime further,” Nathan McCauley, the Public Information Officer for BPD, told Bakersfield Now Eyewitness News.
According to NBC News, in addition to first degree murder, Sandhu has five other felony charges, including first-degree burglary, assault with a firearm, and inflicting injury on a spouse or cohabitant.
Louis Gill, CEO of Alliance Against Family Violence told Bakersfield Now that attacks like the one allegedly carried out by Sandhu against his ex-girlfriend are not as uncommon as people may believe.
“Unfortunately, women are harmed and forced to miscarry in many ways. There are numerous cases of people being physically beaten in their belly,” Gill said.
Gill noted that people who suspect a woman is involved in an abusive relationship, it’s important to check in on them and provide support.
"Call and ask them, 'are you okay'? Ask the question. And they're either going to tell you, 'no I'm fine. It's nothing.' Or maybe they're going to say, 'I don't know what to do. I need help,'” he said.
"It's important that they get the opportunity to get in front of a therapist and to process what has happened to them so that it does not cause post-traumatic stress, that it doesn't turn into something else,” Gill added.
