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By Lizzy Chirkpi
A Nigerian national, Adeleke Adelani, has been sentenced to 11 years prison term in Ireland for coercing his former partner into taking abortion medication, resulting in the loss of her nine-week pregnancy.
Adelani, 28, who was living in Letterkenny, County Donegal, admitted to the offences before his trial commenced at the Letterkenny Circuit Court. The court heard that on February 14, 2020, Valentine’s Day, he invited his ex-partner to his residence under the pretext of discussing her pregnancy. Once there, he threatened and pressured her into ingesting five misoprostol tablets.
At the time of sentencing, Adelani was already serving a separate seven-year prison term for an unrelated conviction.
In a deeply emotional victim impact statement read before the court, the woman said she had chosen to forgive him but stressed that forgiveness did not diminish the gravity of his actions.
“I have forgiven the defendant,” she said. “The forgiveness does not mean what he did was acceptable. He took far more than my freedom. He took my child. He took my sense of safety. He took a future that I had already begun to plan and love.”
She told the court that the incident left her traumatised and struggling with feelings of fear and loss long after the physical ordeal had ended.
In a letter presented to the court by his legal team, Adelani accepted responsibility for his actions and apologised to the victim, acknowledging the harm he caused.
Presiding judge, John Aylmer, described the offence as grave and deeply distressing. He sentenced Adelani to 11 years’ imprisonment for unlawfully terminating the pregnancy, suspending the final two years.
For assault causing harm, the judge imposed a five-year sentence, with the final year suspended. Both sentences are to run concurrently.