Mother is jailed for mutilating daughter

A MOTHER has been jailed for 11 years after becoming the first person to be found guilty of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

The 37-year-old Ugandan woman was found guilty of cutting her three-year-old daughter despite deploying witchcraft to “shut up” her accusers.

Her partner, a 43-year-old Ghanaian, was cleared of involvement following an Old Bailey trial.

The couple, from Walthamstow, east London, had been jointly accused of carrying out FGM on their daughter over the 2017 summer bank holiday.

The girl was subjected to “deliberate cutting with a sharp instrument” at her mother’s dirty home, the Old Bailey heard.

Medics raised the alarm after she was taken to Whipps Cross Hospital with severe bleeding.

The defendants told authorities that their daughter had been reaching for a biscuit when she fell and cut herself on the edge of a kitchen cupboard.

But the victim later confided in specially trained officers that she had been cut by a “witch”.

Her older brother told police he saw his sister crying and “blood dripping on the floor”. While the parents were on bail, police searched the unemployed mother’s home and found evidence of witchcraft.

The father denied having an interest in “voodoo” or “witchcraft” and claimed he was outside when his daughter was hurt.

The court heard FGM would need more than one person to do it, although police have not identified anyone else in the case.

Type II female genital mutilation, of the type inflicted on the toddler, involves mutilation, the court heard.

Immediate effects include bleeding, severe pain, shock and susceptibility to infection, with long-term impacts including gynaecological problems and reduced sexual enjoyment.