| Woman
who killed her unborn twins by trying to induce them jailed
Faiso Sahil, 35, who was jailed
for killing her unborn twins. Faiso Sahil's babies were due to be taken into care after birth, so to avoid social services she decided to try to make them arrive three weeks early. Sahil, who trained as a midwife in her native Somalia, was taken into hospital on 8 April 2007 after complaining of severe pain in her abdomen. She asked to be induced several times, and claimed she was having contractions, but midwives and doctors told her they could see no signs of labour and that the twins were developing healthily. She was discharged two days later
but re-admitted the same day.She found bottl es of the drug
Syntometrine in a trolley in her hospital delivery suite and
injected them into a cannula in her left hand in the early hours of
11 April. The drug blocked the blood supply to her placenta, cutting off oxygen to the twins, who both died within 60 minutes. She then told consultant Simon Grant that her midwife Caroline Randall had given her the drugs the night before the twins died, leading to Randall's arrest and suspension. In May this year, Sahil, 35, of
Ullswater Road, Southmead, was found guilty in her absence of
perverting the course of justice and sentenced to 14 months in
prison. Sahil fled after her twins died, first to Finland, before being arrested in Sweden this week. She was returned to the UK to hear her fate at Bristol crown court today.After the twins' stillbirths, Sahil claimed Randall had told her she would give her something for labour, and had taken two small bottles from a box in a trolley in the room, injecting them into the cannula. Randall was suspended and arrested by police, but was never charged in connec tion with the case. She was described as a conscientious, caring and competent midwife by colleagues giving evidence during Sahil's trial. Sahil had leave to remain in the
UK for ten years and was receiving financial help and accommodation
when she arrived, as well as English lessons. Delivering Sahil's sentence in her absence in May, Judge Mark Horton said: "The defendant was well aware that social services were considering taking these two babies from her shortly after their birth. "She decided that she was going
to use every means at her disposal to prevent that from happening,
that included using her knowledge as a midwife. "This was concealed
from the nurses to persuade them that she was having contractions so
that she must have the babies early so that she could evade social
services." "This was a deliberate complaint
made by the defendant to shift blame from herself to someone who was
innocent."It is not just that this offence strikes at the heart of
the English legal system, but it strikes at an innocent victim in
Mrs Randall." Speaking after Sahil was jailed
today, Detective Inspector Will White, from Avon and Somerset
police, said: "This has been a successful operation on the part of
the police in tracking down and arresting Faiso Sahil, working with
police colleagues overseas and making the arrest using a European
warrant of arrest. "She was discovered in Sweden, living under a
false name."
Posted by:
Cali Cumar Xasan |
