A Nigerian man living in the United Kingdom, Adeleke Adelani, has been sentenced to more than 13 years in prison after unlawfully terminating his former partner’s pregnancy on Valentine’s Day in 2020.
According to reports, the 28-year-old lured the woman—who was nine weeks pregnant at the time—to his home in Letterkenny, Ireland, under the false pretense of discussing the pregnancy.
Once there, Adelani allegedly used threats and coercion to force her to ingest five tablets of misoprostol, a drug commonly used to induce abortion.
The victim was wrongfully imprisoned and subjected to the forced termination.
Adelani, who was already serving a seven-year sentence for a separate offence, was arrested by police. He had been due to stand trial in November 2025 but pleaded guilty before jury selection began.
In her victim impact statement read during sentencing on Thursday, February 19, 2026, the woman said:
“I have forgiven the defendant. The forgiveness does not mean what he did was acceptable. It means I refuse to let what he did continue to control my heart and my life.
When he wrongfully imprisoned me and caused the termination of my nine-week pregnancy, 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.”
In a letter to the victim read in court, Adelani took responsibility for his actions and offered a “heavy apology” for the pain he caused.
Judge John Alymer of the Letterkenny Circuit Court sentenced Adelani to:
– 11 years imprisonment, with the final two years suspended, for causing the unlawful termination of a pregnancy.
– 5 years imprisonment, with the final 12 months suspended, for assault causing harm.
The sentences are to run concurrently, resulting in an effective term of more than 13 years.
The case has drawn attention to the vulnerability of women in abusive or coercive relationships and the severe legal consequences of forced abortion in jurisdictions where such acts are criminalised.
