Doctor Accused Of Plot To Kidnap Pregnant Mistress, Kill Her Baby
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A New York City doctor appeared in court Tuesday morning to face manslaughter charges.
He's accused of masterminding a plot to have two people kill his mistress's unborn baby.
Dr. Vignendra Ariyarajah didn't say anything as he walked into a Brooklyn courtroom. He's accused of executing a plan to kidnap and keep his pregnant mistress at her home, starving and medicating 30-year-old Paul Marie Raymond to kill her unborn baby, which was possibly conceived with another man - a police officer.
WEB EXTRA: Read the complaint (.pdf) | Read Indictment | Part 2 | Part 3
He was indicted in February on charges of criminally negligent homicide, manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment, unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child.
The doctor's mistress was seven and a half months pregnant at the time when Ariyarajah allegedly enlisted two cohorts to only give her liquids through a syringe, induced with fentanyl and possibly PCP, to kill the child, all while the doctor and his wife were out of town on vacation, Duddridge reported.
Raymond was allegedly held at the Ocean Avenue home for days before Christmas in 2016, and tried to escape but was caught and returned. Shortly after her escape attempt, Raymond went into labor.
The Brooklyn District Attorney's office says the baby was born alive in December 2016, but died hours later after four days of labor.
First responders were eventually called by one of the two people who were holding her. Raymond was found close to death.
Responding EMTs say they initially weren't let into the apartment, and when they did finally get in, they found that Raymond had given birth to a live baby, which later died.
Prosecutors say Raymond was tortured, her fingernails torn off and had chemical burns on her face.
Dr. Ariyarajah lives in New Jersey. He's free on bail but has to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet, but is allowed to continue visiting clinics and prescribe medicine.
When Duddridge tried to go in to the doctor's Medcare Consultants on Church Avenue clinic to ask questions, staff locked the doors on her.
The defense said his client never prescribed her PCP, says she worked in his office for nine years and struggled with mental health. The suspect's attorney say she miscarried.
The next court date is set for May 9.
