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.

Resources for victims of domestic violence in Wichita.

Terry Ross, 25, and Kelly Baalmann, 33, were charged today with aggravated robbery.

The older man who lived in th 200 block of South Chautauqua called police to report being robbed just before 8:30 Wednesday morning. Detective Ken Davis said in his report that the man told police he answered a knock on his door to find a woman standing with a towel wrapped around her head, claiming to be involved in an accident. As he opened the door, another man pushed his way into the home and began beating the resident. The couple took $100 out of the man’s pocket and fled. A neighbor upstairs heard the commotion and saw the couple leave in a green truck.

About an hour later, police received a call of a couple fighting in a green truck in the 6300 block of Eilerts, less than 3 miles from the reported robbery. Police found Baalmann with a swollen eye and scratches on her face and arms. Ross had scratches on his face and neck, police said. Officer Valerie Shirkey said she asked Baalman how she’d gotten hurt. Baalman replied “gymnastics injuries.”

Judge Eric Yost scheduled the couple for a preliminary hearing Sept. 9. Yost set Baalmann’s bond at $75,000 bond and $100,000 for Ross.

Matthew Formsma, 33, and Jennifer Gragg, 22, want to get married. They have one daughter together and she’s pregnant with their second child. But there’s a hitch in the plans: he’s in jail awaiting trial next month, charged with battering her and endangering their child. Formsma, 33, has been in jail on $100,000 bond since his arrest in October.

According to testimony in previous hearings: Gragg, 23, went to the couple’s house in the 600 block of South Rutan one evening to find Formsma passed out naked on the couch and another woman in their bed. After an argument, Formsma had service shut off to Gragg’s cell phone. Gragg took the other woman’s cell phone and left. Formsa later asked Gragg to return it.

Court documents state that when Gragg returned, she parked in the driveway, left her infant daughter in the car with a friend, and went inside the house. During another argument, Formsma pushed her to the floor. She returned to her 2007 Chevy Cobalt, parked behind Formsa’s 199 Chrysler Concorde. Draxa Wylie, the friend, testified she locked herself, the baby and Gragg inside the car, as Formsma tried to break the window. He then got in his Concorde and backed into them, she said, sending the Cobalt about 20 feet into the street. The baby was strapped into a car seat in the back seat.

Gragg has since testified that it’s all a big misunderstanding. Now, she wants to marry Formsma. Prosecutor Christine Ladner told Judge Joe Kisner that despite an order for Formsma to not have contact with Gragg, he’d sent her letters and she’d used an assumed name to visit him in jail. She was in court today for the motion.

Judge Kisner denied the motion, telling the couple they’d have to wait to get married.