Kevin Wilson guilty: Man convicted of beating up ex-girlfriend to kill their unborn baby

Victim: Malorie Bantala, 21, is fighting for her life in hospital after the attack
Paul Cheston17 December 2015
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A teaching assistant faces a life sentence at the Old Bailey today for beating up his ex-girlfriend to deliberately kill their unborn baby.

As the jury returned the guilty verdict on Kevin Wilson his victim screamed with fury and was dragged from court.

Malorie Bantala yelled: “I could kill you, Kevin, do you understand? I will f****** kill you. Drop dead.”

Wilson, 22, had begged Ms Bantala to have an abortion and even made a clinic appointment but she refused.

When she was eight months pregnant she was attacked by two men in motorcycle helmets outside her home in Peckham.

She told the jury she recognised Wilson through his open visor as he kicked and stamped on her stomach.

She was returning home after a shopping trip buying gifts for her baby shower.

The unborn baby boy was stillborn at 32 weeks and the Marks and Spencer worker lost six litres of blood and needed life-saving surgery herself.

Wilson, of Bermondsey, and a 17-year-old boy with an IQ of just 49 were found guilty of child destruction and causing grievous bodily harm to Miss Bantala.

They will be sentenced later by Judge Mark Lucraft.

Guilty: Kevin Wilson
Metropolitan Police

During the trial Miss Bantala, 22, described how she fought to save her baby from the savage attack in June.

“I screamed out ‘Kevin’ for him to stop but he continued to kick my stomach with harsh kicks,” she said.

“I could see his trainers kicking into me and stamping on my stomach for what felt like ages.”

Then, as she pounded the side of the witness box with her right hand, she added: “There was a lot of force behind them – it was constant.

Victim: Malorie Bantala outside the Old Bailey earlier this year
Anthony Devlin/PA Wire

“My instincts led me to put my right hand over my stomach and I broke two fingers from the kicks trying to protect my son.”

Miss Bantala said that the second figure also kicked at her stomach from behind her before her neighbour screamed from a window and the attackers ran off.

They were caught on CCTV making their escape on a motorbike.

Miss Bantala said she recognised Wilson, who is 6ft 4ins tall with a heavy build, not just from the brief glimpse of his eyes but from his posture and the way he turned his hands in his pockets.

She also claimed he was wearing the same navy Adidas track suit he had worn when they had met previously at Nando’s near London Bridge.

Earlier the court heard how she and Wilson had become lovers as they studied at the University of Bedfordshire in Luton in 2011.

They broke up but enjoyed a second brief fling on holiday on Ibiza after graduating.

Guilty: Kevin Wilson, right, and his accomplice, 17, who cannot be identified Elizabeth Cook/PA Wire
PA

Following a second split she became pregnant by him after they booked into the Eurotraveller hotel in the Old Kent Road in November last year.

She said she had been upset at the death of her nephew aged four from sickle cell anaemia and Wilson was comforting her.

When she told him she was pregnant, Wilson immediately ordered her to get rid of the baby and even booked an appointment at an abortion clinic in Blackfriars.

He repeatedly insulted her and demanded to know: “Why are you doing this to me?”

But she was determined to bring up the child alone.

Wilson denied he had carried out the attack and told the court he had been fast asleep at home at the time.

He admitted he did not want Miss Bantala to have the baby but insisted he had “moved on”.

In fact, he had managed to get another girlfriend pregnant and told the jury that she “did not have the baby”.

The teenager, who cannot be named because of his age, did not give evidence.

When arrested he told police he did not know Wilson but later admitted he had repeatedly lied.

Despite his age he has a record of theft, burglary and robbery including punching a woman and stealing her mobile phone.

He has been arrested 14 times in recent years and is a heavy cannabis smoker.

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