Father denies cruelty charge for 'allowing' daughter's FGM

The case is being heard at Bristol Crown Court

A father has denied allowing his daughter to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM).

The 29-year-old, who at one point drove a private hire vehicle, is alleged to have confessed to a passenger - an anti-FGM campaigner - that he had allowed her to be cut.

The father, who cannot be named to protect the child's identity, denies allowing her to be assaulted.

The trial at Bristol Crown Court is due to last a week.

On the first day of the trial on Monday, the jury heard the defendant picked up campaigner Sami Ullah at Bristol Temple Meads railway station in March 2016.

He told him that many women in his Somali culture have "the big cut" but that his daughter, then aged seven, had had "the small cut", the court heard.

Mr Ullah informed police of the conversation and a medical examination found the girl to have a "small lesion", prosecutor Anna Vigars said.

'Culture and tradition'

The lesion was not evident during a further examination two months later, suggesting it had healed and was "not something she had been born with", the prosecution said.

Mr Ullah told the court the defendant named the part of Bristol where the procedure was carried out on the girl.

"I asked him if he knew it was illegal. He replied 'it's culture and tradition - some people do it, some people don't'," he said.

"He asked me rhetorically 'do you know why we do it? So women don't feel sexy all the time'."

Apart from this allegation, the prosecution said there was no suggestion the defendant was a bad father, describing his daughter as "well nourished, clean, truly articulate, bright and sparkling".

The defendant denies a charge of cruelty to a child under the age of 16.

The trials continues.