Paramedic who secretly gave pregnant lover abortion drug is jailed
Stephen Doohan, 33, was married when he met the woman on holiday in Spain in 2021 and the pair began a long-distance relationship.
In March 2023, the woman travelled to Edinburgh to see him after learning she was pregnant, Glasgow High Court heard.
Doohan, who was a clinical team leader with the Scottish Ambulance Service, concocted the plan to induce a miscarriage.
He crushed pills into a syringe before the administering the medicine as she lay on a bed at his home in Edinburgh's upmarket Grange area on March 17, 2023.
Doohan inserted an abortion drug in her vagina without her knowledge during consensual sex, and the following day insisted on seeing her underwear after she noticed white discharge.
He gave her more of the drug days later and she soon fell ill, which included fainting in the shower.
It later emerged that she had lost the baby as a result of the paramedic's actions.
The court heard that Doohan convinced the woman to lie to doctors at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh because he thought he would be arrested if she told the truth.
The victim attended another hospital in the region with her sister and was told she was having a miscarriage.
In May 2023, the woman complained to the Scottish Ambulance Service, which launched an investigation. She handed over screenshots of messages as well as a conversation she had recorded. This information was passed to the police.
The investigation found that on March 14, when the woman told Doohan she was pregnant, he used a work intranet network to search for abortion drugs.
• Paramedic tried to blame good Samaritan for man's death
On Monday, Doohan was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow to ten years and six months in prison.
He had previously pleaded guilty to sexual assault and depositing a drug into the woman's vagina, causing her to abort, and depositing it with intent to cause her to abort.
Lord Colbeck also imposed a non-harassment order barring him from approaching or contacting the woman.
Doohan had not told the woman he was married when they met, and they remained in contact.
When the woman discovered she was pregnant in March 2023, Doohan had separated from his wife temporarily and was living at a flat in Edinburgh.
During that visit, Doohan and the woman were involved in consensual sexual activity. The woman said he had done something she could not see during this activity, but was not 'suspicious of his actions' at that time.
The court heard this was when he used the syringe. The next day, the woman began to suffer abdominal cramps.
They were then back at Doohan's flat and he gave her diazepam for the pain.
The court heard she ended up in a 'deep sleep', but awoke to find Doohan 'initiating sexual contact'. This time, she was suspicious of his actions, but was also feeling the effects of the sedative.
• Police advised to 'seize digital devices' from women who miscarry
Doohan later used the lavatory and the woman took the chance to peek under the mattress.
Scott McKenzie, for the prosecution, said: 'She found a plastic syringe containing crushed tablets which had been pushed to the end of the syringe.
'Next to the syringe were two white tablets that were in the shape of a star.'
The woman immediately checked online for 'abortion tablet'. McKenzie said: 'The search returned images that matched the tablet the woman had found.'
Doohan initially denied what he had done before sobbing, claiming he was 'scared'.
The woman called a friend who urged her to go to the police. But she initially had concerns for Doohan, stating she did not want to 'ruin' him if she was OK.
She later recorded a conversation with him and it was then he confessed to inserting the syringe, but stated he 'could not go through with it'.
He did accept 'fragments' of the drug still may have ended up in her system.
The woman also discovered he had been researching abortion on the internet.
McKenzie said the woman had been 'significantly affected' by her ordeal.
Doohan, now of Kirkliston, near Edinburgh, also faced an allegation of stealing misoprostol from the Scottish Ambulance Service in Edinburgh. This drug can be administered during a miscarriage or to induce a termination. A not guilty plea was accepted.
The woman was in court on Monday to see Doohan sentenced.
Lord Colbeck told Doohan: 'You researched and planned what you did to your victim.
'You used resources available to you as a paramedic before manipulating the woman and executing that plan under the guise of consensual sexual activity.
'You left her in what can only be described as considerable pain and anguish over the prospect of losing her child before she did, in fact, do so.'
The judge said the emotional victim impact statement he had read 'radiates with raw pain' suffered by the woman.
He said: 'The offences committed by you, frankly, are almost as serious as any this court is ever asked to sentence.'
Mark Stewart KC, in mitigation, said Doohan was 'deeply sorry' for what he had done. He had had problems at the time which affected his 'judgment and decision making' although that did not excuse what had happened.
Doohan was also put on the sex offenders list.
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