British jury delivers first conviction for female genital mutilation

A woman in London was convicted on Friday over the genital cutting of her daughter, becoming the first person to be successfully prosecuted under the country’s law banning the practice.

The 37-year-old woman was found guilty of committing female genital mutilation in August 2017, when her daughter was 3. The girl’s father, 43, was cleared of charges. Neither parent was identified because of reporting restrictions placed on the case.

“Female genital mutilation has an appalling physical and emotional impact on victims that usually lasts their entire life,” said Lynette Woodrow, a deputy chief crown prosecutor, in a statement. “A 3-year-old has no power to resist or fight back.”

A jury in London heard the girl was “deliberately cut and her injuries amounted to FGM,” the statement from prosecutors said, referring to female genital mutilation, the practice of a girl’s genitalia being cut and removed.

The mother, originally from Uganda, where the practice is also illegal, claimed her daughter’s injuries were caused when she fell from a kitchen counter onto an open metal lined cupboard door. None of the medical experts who testified supported that assessment, prosecutors said. The statement did not describe the woman’s possible motives.

The girl was taken to a hospital and lost a significant amount of blood because of her injuries, jurors were told, according to the BBC.

“I come before thee today with tears in my eyes, fear in my heart,” the woman wrote in her diary, according to prosecutors. “My mother, I made a choice in my life. With that choice I could be going to jail.”

Aisha Gill, a professor of criminology at the University of Roehampton, said in a phone interview that the verdict was “significant because it sends out a message to affected communities that these kinds of harmful practices will not be tolerated.”

Calling it “a landmark case,” she added, “We need to see that the law will be operational and effective to enable victims to come forward when necessary.”

Female genital mutilation has been illegal in Britain since 1985, but previous prosecutions have led to acquittals, according to news reports. Globally, at least 200 million survivors of the practice live with the scars of mutilation, according to the World Health Organisation.

In the United States, genital cutting has been banned since 1996. But in a ruling last year on the first case in the country, a federal judge in Michigan said that the law was unconstitutional and that the practice was a matter for states to regulate.

Advocates in Britain welcomed the decision on Friday.

“Survivors of FGM now see that people will take them seriously,” said Leyla Hussein, a founder of the Dahlia Project, which provides therapy for survivors. “The victim got justice, but she still has to live with FGM like so many of us.”

Next week, the House of Commons in Britain’s Parliament will consider an amendment to the Children Act of 1989 that would give authorities greater abilities to protect children from female genital mutilation before cases go to trial, as they currently have to prevent forced marriages.

The judge in the mother’s case warned of a “lengthy” jail term as she remanded the woman into custody, the BBC said. The court set a sentencing date of March 8.

© 2019 New York Times News Service