Man spikes pregnant woman's drink with abortion pills. / WROC 8
A doctor who spiked his then-girlfriend's drink with four abortion pills has been sentenced to three years in jail.
Brook Fiske, 37, was almost four months pregnant when she was poisoned by Sikander Imran, 32, last year. She was began suffering contractions and was rushed to hospital where she lost her unborn baby son.
Imran was arrested and earlier this year, pleaded guilty to fetal homicide in Arlington County, Virginia, the Daily Mail reports.
Fiske says she felt "betrayed and devastated" by her ex-boyfriend's shocking act. Photo / WROC
On Friday, he received a three-year jail term, and 17-year suspended sentence. He also had his medical licence revoked and faces deportation to Pakistan after his release.
Despite everything he'd put her through, Fiske asked the judge to grant some leniency to Imran at his sentencing, WJLA reports.
"To me, the length of time that he serves in prison isn't what's important," Fiske said after the hearing. "I think that it is really important that people know that if they are dealing with depression before they do something, they should reach out and get help."
Imran's lawyers had argued he was suffering from panic attacks at the time of the fetal homicide, and had threatened murder.
"What matters is that people hear this story and realise that either they need help themselves and they're going to reach out and get it before something awful happens, or they realise that whatever weight, whatever tragedy, whatever pain they're carrying, there is a way through it," Fiske said.
Sikander Imran was sentenced to three years in jail, and a 17 year suspended sentence at the hearing. He also faces deportation. Photo / Arlington County Sheriff's Office
The nurse says she is focused on putting the tragedy behind her and finding a way to move forward.
Meanwhile Imran told the judge on Friday he loved Fiske "more than anyone in the world". He added that he prays for their deceased child everyday.
Fiske and Imran had been dating on and off for about three years when he moved from Rochester, New York to Arlington, Virginia for a new job in June 2016.
Shortly after the move, Fiske says she discovered she was pregnant, but when she told Imran the happy news he was less than pleased she told WROC.
"He didn't want to have a baby so he tried to talk me into having an abortion... which I didn't want to do," Fiske said.
Imran poisoned her tea with the abortion pill one night, causing her to go into labor and lose their baby boy (ultrasound image above). Photo / WROC
When she was about 17 weeks along, Fiske travelled down to Arlington to meet Imran so they could discuss how they wanted to raise the child.
One night during the visit, she says he poisoned her tea.
"When I was drinking my tea in the evening I got to the bottom of the cup. There was a gritty substance in there and when I looked at it, I could tell that it was a pill that had been ground up," she said.
A few hours later, Fiske says she started feeling contractions and was rushed to the hospital.
"He [Imran] immediately started crying and said that he was a horrible person and that he had done what I thought he did," she said.
After going into labour at Virginia Hospital Center, she lost the baby which was a boy.
Doctors conducted a blood test after the heartbreaking loss and found that she had an excessive amount of the prescription abortion pill Misoprostol in her system.
Sikander Imran, 32,was arrested on May 24, 2017, and charged with fetal homicide. Photo / WROC
"According to the nurse at the hospital it's 200 milligrams to induce labor. So he gave me 800," she said.
"I felt very betrayed and devastated," she added.
That amount shows just how desperate Imran was to get rid of the baby, since the drug is already risky for women as far along as Fiske was.
Misoprostal is typically used for early pregnancy abortions - up to 12 weeks. They are not recommended for women over 12 weeks pregnant, like Fiske was, because there's an increased risk for complications.
Imran was arrested on May 24, 2017, and charged with fetal homicide.
Fiske said that testifying against her ex had helped her come to terms with what he had done.
"It was very empowering for me to face him and say what he had done...and look him in the face while I said that," Fiske said.
Fiske's LinkedIn shows she works as a critical care nurse at the same Rochester hospital where Imran worked until transferring to MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in June 2016.
His LinkedIn says he worked as a fellow in hematology/oncology and was educated in Pakistan.
