The 19-year-old woman cried this afternoon, as she told a judge how the father of her unborn child choked her and punched her in the stomach last month.
Jamie Stuart was seven months pregnant when she went to see her estranged husband about why their bank account was overdrawn, she testified at a preliminary hearing. She said Brian Stuart, her recently separated husband, became enraged, choked her and punched her in the stomach.
Such cases are not uncommon. Experts say women in abusive relationships may find violence escalates during their pregnancies.
Judith McFarlane, a domestic violence expert at Texas Women’s University, told the San Antonio Express-News:
“The abuser sees this as taking the focus away from him. And when the attention is taken away from him by the unborn child, that unborn child becomes the focus of his rage.”
The target of such violence is often direct their anger toward the woman’s stomach, Marc Shapiro, a professor of trauma surgery, told WebMD:
“The fetus is most at risk during the third trimester. I’ve seen fetuses that were shot or situations in which the mother was kicked in the stomach and spontaneously aborted. Pregnant women get scratched, punched, stabbed, shot, and sexually assaulted. It’s rare to have to do a Cesarean section to save a fetus, but it happens.”
Sedgwick County District Judge Clark Owens ruled the case should proceed to trial. Brian Stuart, 20, pleaded not guilty to aggravated battery. His trial is tentatively set for Dec. 1.