For the first time in the UK a person has been jailed for the crime of Female Genital Mutilation which is a common practice among the country’s Muslim and African population.
The woman who was sentenced is 37-years-old is originally from Uganda. At culmination of her trial at the Old Bailey, Mrs Justice Whipple said the act was “a barbaric and sickening crime” as he sentenced her to 11 years in prison.
It was not determined as to why the women inflicted genital mutilation upon her own child but superstitions relating to witchcraft are considered a strong possibility.
Before the woman’s trial spells and curses intended to deter police investigations were found at her home.
The juror’s at the trial were told that the child had “lost a significant amount of blood as a result of the injuries… delivered and inflicted on her”.
In the UK the NHS records around 9,000 instances of FGM per year meanwhile Ireland has not escaped the problem with over 4,000 incidences of FGM being recorded by the HSE since 2011.
While the World Health Organisation estimates that between 100 and 140 million women worldwide have undergone female genital mutilation and three million girls in Africa are at risk annually.
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