Uber driver ‘told women’s rights activist that his girl, 7, had FGM’

AN UBER driver was arrested after telling an anti- female genital mutilation campaigner in his taxi that his daughter had undergone the procedure, a court heard.

The driver was making small talk with passenger Sami Ullah when the conversation turned to FGM and he revealed that his daughter was a victim, the jury heard.

As he dropped the charity worker off, the 29-year-old father allegedly said: ‘Do you know why we do it? So women don’t feel sexy all the time.’

Mr Ullah, a junior trustee for the charity Integrate, used Uber’s feedback service to identify the Somalian driver before reporting him to police.

Officers questioned the driver and his three young daughters were examined by consultant paediatrician Dr Lindsay Mackintosh. The oldest, aged seven, was found to have a small lesion, classed as type 4 FGM, which the doctor said looked as if it was caused by a hot object.

The World Health Organisation says type 4 FGM is not one of the most severe forms, but still leaves a mark.

The father, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, is not thought to have carried out the procedure but allowed it to happen, Bristol Crown Court heard. He denies a charge of cruelty to a child under 16.

Dr Mackintosh told the court yesterday: ‘I felt there was a lesion on the clitoris itself. It was tiny, probably a couple of millimetres at most.

‘I felt the lesion may represent a small scar. With the previous concerns that there had been a disclosure that she may have undergone FGM, I was concerned that she had been pricked or possibly had a small burn to her clitoris using a hot, sharp object.’

The court heard that the driver picked up Mr Ullah in Bristol on March 9, 2016. During the journey Mr Ullah asked him if he knew what FGM was, using the Somali word when the driver did not understand.

The driver responded by making a symbol with his hand and said: ‘ You mean cutting?’, the court was told.

In evidence, Mr Ullah said: ‘He then said that it was very wrong and I agreed with him.

‘Then he said, “I did the small one to my daughter. Other people did the big one but I did the small one”.’

When Mr Ullah asked the driver if he knew it was illegal, he said it was ‘custom and tradition’, adding: ‘ Some people did it and some people don’t.’

Professor Sarah Creighton, a gynaecologist, was sent 25 photographs from the girl’s medical examination. She told the jury: ‘In four of the pictures there was a small lesion on the clitoris which was consistent with the description by Dr Mackintosh.

‘I estimate that there was a 2- 3mm lesion.’ She examined the girl months later and found the mark had healed.

Prosecutor Anna Vigars QC said the ‘well-nourished and tidy’ children were a credit to the driver and his wife, who lived in inner-city Bristol.

But she said the defendant had ‘exposed his daughter to a painful procedure’.

Defending, James Haskell suggested that it was common for ‘different ethnic minorities to use words such as daughter, sister, auntie or mother’ when they are not referring to their own relatives.

But Mr Ullah said that the driver had repeated the comment about the ‘small cut’ on his daughter.

The trial continues.

‘Custom and tradition’