A man’s plot to secretly administer medication to a pregnant woman causing her to miscarry was “cold, callous and calculating”, a court has been told.
Stuart Worby, 40, and Wayne Finney, 41, are on trial after a woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, suffered a "forced abortion” 15 weeks into her pregnancy in the summer of 2022.
The men, who were both friends, had "put their heads together" to see how they could get hold of drugs needed to "bring about a miscarriage", Norwich Crown Court heard.
READ MORE: Norfolk men 'put heads together' to cause woman to miscarry
Worby, of Malthouse Court, Dereham, admits unlawfully acquiring two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, which are commonly used together to induce a miscarriage in early pregnancy. However, he denies giving them to the woman.
He also denies two counts of sexual assault over allegations he inserted one drug into the woman without her knowledge or consent.
Edmund Vickers KC, prosecuting, said in his summing up: “His plan was cold, callous and calculating.”
Mr Vickers said Worby had repeatedly lied and had refused to take the woman to hospital for three hours despite her being in severe abdominal pain.
“The biggest lie of all was when he said his conscience got the better of him and he couldn’t go ahead with administering the drugs. We say that is utter nonsense,” he added.
READ MORE: Jurors told woman sexually assaulted before forced abortion
The trial has heard defence claims that Worby had crushed a pill into a drink but had poured it away, and that residue from the glass may explain why traces of it were found in the woman’s system.
Finney, of Station Street, Swaffham, denies intentionally encouraging or assisting in the commission of the alleged offence, over claims he had acted as a go-between for Mr Worby and his girlfriend Nueza Cepeda, who acquired the medication.
Giving evidence he admitted helping to research the medication but denied he had encouraged Cepeda to get the tablets.
But Mr Vickers told the jury: "He didn't show any attempt to dissuade him or put him off and he even went so far as to be the intermediary."
READ MORE: Man accused over miscarriage denies inserting medication
Cepeda, 39, of Walnut Drive, Dereham, has admitted supplying or procuring an instrument to be used with the intent to procure a miscarriage and will be sentenced at a later date.
In his directions to the jury The Honourable Mr Justice Bennethan said: “The prosecution submit that Mr Worby deliberately gave her both drugs to bring about a miscarriage and he succeeded in doing so.
“The defence submits that while he may have planned to do so, he changed his mind and any drugs ingested were an accident.”
The trial continues.
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