Story By: Lee Bullen, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska,  Agency: Newsflash

A man has been jailed for life for shooting his pregnant 21-year-old mistress in the belly in bed and killing her and their unborn child to hide the affair from his wife.

Angel Eduardo Andrada, 30, was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for the femicide of Carolina Ledesma on 18th February 2019.

Andrada shot the victim who was three months pregnant with his baby in her abdomen in the town of Ingeniero Budge in the eastern Argentine province of Buenos Aires after engaging in an extramarital affair for around a year.

She had just told him she was pregnant when he shot her and tried to make the scene appear like a robbery.

During the trial, the defendant repeated what he said during the investigation, that he did not want to kill the young woman and is “not a murderer”, and asked for “forgiveness” for the shooting.

He claimed that the shooting was accidental and came during a heated argument after he was told of the pregnancy and realised it was suddenly very likely that his wife would find out he had been cheating on her for the past year.

The victim’s mother and a friend testified at the trial and confirmed that the defendant did not want to have a baby with her in case his wife found out about the extramarital affair.

The body of the victim was discovered by her mother in a house in Ingeniero Budge after the defendant turned up at home which was nearby and told her the 21-year-old had been shot in a robbery, according to the news site Infobae.

When the mother rushed to the property, she discovered the body of her daughter in bed covered in blood and called an ambulance, but it was already too late.

Before his arrest at a pizzeria in town, Andrada remained at large for two days.