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CAMPAIGN: Malorie Bantala is calling for a review of the child destruction law

A WOMAN who lost her unborn son after a brutal attack by her former boyfriend has called for a review of the child destruction law.

Speaking on the Victoria Derbyshire show last Friday in her first interview since the attack, she recalled the events leading up to the incident that led to the death of her unborn child.

Describing the moments in which she was stamped and kicked by the man who fathered her child and his accomplice, she said: “At the time I was in a state of confusion. I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t understand why he was doing what he was doing.”

Although her ex-boyfriend’s face was covered by a motorcycle helmet during the attack, Bantala was able to identify him because she recognised his figure and the clothing that he was wearing.

She was transported to the hospital by the police as an ambulance was unable to reach her where she had to wait “another hour or so” before she was seen and examined by a nurse.

Bantala said she had a feeling that her unborn son, Joel, had died but didn’t know for sure until staff at the hospital confirmed it.

“After some time I started to realise that my baby hadn’t moved. So my instincts started to tell me something was wrong because he hadn’t been moving for quite a while.”

The following evening Bantala had a caesarean as she was unable to give birth naturally. After the surgery she was told that her fingers were broken – a result of using her hand to protect herself during the attack – and underwent another operation to treat this.

Bantala said she wasn’t initially happy with the length of the sentence handed down to her attacker Kevin Wilson, but regarded herself as “lucky” considering that other cases don’t even lead to a conviction – something that has prompted her call for a review of the child destruction law.

She wants pregnancy to “always be considered as an aggravating factor” in such attacks and for the law to cover unborn babies regardless of whether they would survive outside the womb at the time.

Wilson, a former teaching assistant, was jailed for a minimum of 16 years.

In 2016 he appealed his life sentence and lost, but judges reduced the minimum term to 14 years.

The petition calling to review the child destruction legislation can be found at www.petition.parliament.uk/petitions/214660

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