FGM accused ‘attempted witchcraft to stop inquiry’

PARENTS accused of the female genital mutilation (FGM) of their threeyear-old used witchcraft to try and “shut up” the police and doctors involved in the case, a court heard.

A Ugandan woman, 37, and Ghanaian man, 43, from east London, are each charged with FGM and failing to protect a girl from risk of genital mutilation on Aug 28 2017.

The couple, who deny the allegations and cannot be identified for legal reasons, appeared at the Old Bailey yesterday as a three-week trial began.

Opening the case, Caroline Carberry QC, prosecuting, said the parents – particularly the mother – had an interest in witchcraft, with evidence of spells and curses found in the kitchen freezer when police searched her home.

“Two cow tongues, they were bound in wire with nails and a small blunt knife also embedded in them, were found, and 40 limes and other fruit, which when opened contained pieces of paper with names on them,” she said.

“The names included both police officers involved in the investigation, the social worker, her own son and the then Director of Public Prosecutions.

“These people were to ‘shut up’ and ‘freeze their mouths’. There was a jar with a picture of a social worker in pepper found hidden behind the lavatory in the bathroom. Another spell was hidden under the bed.” Highlighting Whatsapp messages between the parents the day after the alleged FGM, the prosecution says that the “morning after their child was mutilated”, the pair were discussing casting a spell to “silence the police and the doctors”. Both deny practising witchcraft.

Ms Carberry said the girl “sustained her injuries by deliberate cutting with a sharp instrument”. She was taken to Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone the same day, having “lost a significant amount of blood as a result of the injuries inflicted”. The trial continues.

‘ Two cow tongues, bound in wire with nails and a small blunt knife also embedded in them, were found’