A 37-year-old Ugandan mother has been jailed for 11 years in the UK for mutilating her three-year-old daughter at their family home in London.
This makes her the first person in the UK to be convicted of female genital mutilation (FGM).
Sentencing at the Old Bailey, Mrs Justice Whipple said: “Let’s be clear – FGM is a form of child abuse.”
The UN estimates that over 200 million girls and women have experienced FGM which is a life-threatening procedure that involves the partial or total removal of a woman’s external genitalia. February 6, 2018, marks the 6th International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM. / AFP PHOTO / Yasuyoshi CHIBA
FGM is banned in both the UK and Uganda.
During the trial, the woman claimed that in August 2017 her daughter climbed up to get a biscuit and “fell on metal and it’s ripped her private parts”.
Medics alerted police to the girl’s injuries after they treated her at a London hospital.
The child “lost a significant amount of blood as a result of the injuries… delivered and inflicted on her”, jurors were told.
Police said they found evidence of “witchcraft” in the woman’s home, including limes stuffed with written curses:
