A CHIP shop worker tried to get a nurse to give him a tablet to abort his girlfriend’s baby without her knowing, a court heard.

Karim Habibi, aged 26, of Charles Street, Newport, pleaded guilty on the day he was meant to stand trial last month to attempting to procure a poison to procure an abortion.

At Newport Crown Court, prosecutor John Probert said that from June 2011, the defendant was in a relationship with a woman named Helen Dean and although they did not live together, they had discussed starting a family.

On June 13, 2012, she took a pregnancy test which was positive and she telephoned the defendant, who seemed “pleased and excited” about the prospect of becoming a father, said Mr Probert.

But two days later, he went to his GP’s surgery in Newport and saw the practice nurse, who he asked to provide him with a tablet to stop his girlfriend’s pregnancy, which he intended to give her without her knowledge, the court heard.

“The nurse refused the request and discussed with him the unethical and unlawful nature of his request,” said Mr Probert.

“He appeared unhappy and left the surgery empty-handed.”

The nurse referred the case to one of the GP partners, who in turn tried to contact the defendant without success and reported the matter to the police.

Habibi, who works at a takeaway, was arrested on June 20 and denied the allegation, claiming that the nurse had misunderstood and said he was in fact seeking medication for rectal bleeding.

Stephen Thomas, mitigating, said there was considerable merit in the defendant pleading guilty so as to avoid a trial.

The judge, Recorder Gregory Bull QC, told Habibi, who heard proceedings through a Farsi interpreter in court, that he had done something “quite outrageous”.

Mr Bull said: “You behaved in a way that is not acceptable in this country or anywhere else.

“Your aim was to fool your girlfriend, cause her to take a tablet that would cause your son to be aborted.

“That’s a terrible thing to do.

“You didn’t show any pity for what you had done, you lied to the police and continued with your lies until this matter was to be tried,” he said.

Habibi was never in a position to administer poison and therefore his girlfriend and her baby were not put in immediate danger, said Mr Bull.

“In passing sentence, I have to send a message out that what you did was wholly unacceptable.”

Habibi was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years and made the subject of a restraining order against his ex-partner and their son for five years.

He must pay £1,200 prosecution costs.