Gabriel G. Routt attacked the same woman on July 1 and Sept. 6, 2023, authorities said. (Mug shot: Twin Falls County, Idaho)
An Idaho man will spend years behind bars for attacking his pregnant girlfriend in an attempt to kill his unborn child.
Standing in a courtroom earlier this month, Gabriel G. Routt, 21, sobbed as he pleaded to avoid prison and instead be sentenced to treatment, according to Idaho newspaper the Times-News. District Judge Ben Cluff reportedly pointed out, however, that the defendant’s crimes were “quite frankly, horrific.”
Affidavits viewed by Law&Crime show that in incidents on July 1 and Sept. 6, Routt terrorized the same woman by repeatedly attacking her. In the latter incident, police said he bit her in the face and the back of her leg, and kicked her three or four times in the stomach.
“As he did this Routt said he wanted to kill the child because he didn’t want to have a child with her,” police wrote.
The abuse survivor was eight weeks pregnant with his child, documents stated.
“I don’t want to live like this anymore,” Routt said sobbing in court.
Cluff told him he would have access to treatment, but it was going to be while he was in prison custody. He reportedly sentenced Routt to at least eight years in prison after being convicted on charges including attempted strangulation and attempted kidnapping.
In the July 1 incident, the abuse survivor told authorities the argument started over her not wanting to leave the house with him.
“Gabriel started shoving her outside, and dropped his beer,” the documents said. “This angered Gabriel and he started pulling her hair, grabbing the back of her neck, and forcing her to go towards their car in the driveway.”
During the police response, she also revealed that Routt choked her during the incident, cutting off her breathing.
Police noted red marks, consistent with fingernails, on the left side of her throat.
There was also another choking incident the week prior, documents stated.
In the Sept. 6 incident, Routt arrived at her apartment after the woman did not respond to his attempt at contact. According to documents, he took her phone and saw messages between her and her mother in which the survivor discussed her plan to leave him.
He pushed her, climbed on her, and bit her lip and the back side of her left thigh — police noted “a small amount of blood on the corner of her mouth” from the bite, and “a round circular bruise forming on the back of her leg with red teeth marks.”
Then he kicked her in the stomach, documents said.
He tried to strangle her by putting both his hands around her neck.
The woman, however, fought back by kicking and shoving.
“She told him to let her up so they could have a fair fight,” police wrote. “After he got off her, she grabbed a pair of scissors to defend herself, but Routt was able to take the scissors from her and threatened to kill himself as he stabbed himself in the neck with the scissors.”
She refused his demand to go for a drive with him. He grabbed her hair to force her to leave with him.
She tried alerting neighbors for help and fell to the ground to hinder him from taking her.
Though she refused to walk, he carried her into the vehicle and drove around for about 10 minutes before returning to the apartment. There, he grabbed a large knife from his vehicle, documents stated. She worried he was going to stab her, but he said it was for him, and he started to cut his forearm, according to the affidavit.
Finally, she managed to escape into her apartment as he chased her. Routt fled after she told him she was calling the cops. He had even called her in the middle of her interview with police, according to the affidavit.
Cops said they found Routt at his parents’ home.
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