FGM: British girl, 3, mutilated on Kenya trip, Old Bailey hears

A woman has appeared at the Old Bailey accused of handing over a three-year-old British girl for female genital mutilation (FGM) in Kenya.

Amina Noor, 39, is charged with assisting a non-UK person to mutilate the girl's genitalia in 2006.

The alleged crime came to light when the complainant, who is now 21, confided in her English teacher at school when she was 16.

Ms Noor, from Harrow, north-west London, denies the charge.

Warning: This article contains details some may find distressing

Opening the trial, prosecutor Deanna Heer KC told the court that when Ms Noor was spoken to about what had happened she said the procedure had involved an injection and the girl was "happy and able to run around and play" afterwards.

However, when the complainant was examined in 2019 it emerged her clitoris had been completely removed, Ms Heer said.

The court heard how in an initial account Ms Noor described going with another woman to a "clinic" where the girl was called into a room for a procedure.

The defendant said she was invited in but did not do so because she was "scared and worried".

Jurors were told that Ms Noor's account mentioned that the girl appeared quiet afterwards, cried the whole night and complained of pain.

'Encouraged and assisted'

In a later police interview under caution, Ms Noor denied anyone had made threats against her before the FGM took place.

When the defendant was asked whether at any stage she had not wanted the FGM to happen, she said 'yeah I thought about it but then, you know, got it done', Ms Heer told the court.

Ms Noor described what had been done to the girl as "Sunnah" - meaning "tradition" or "way" in Arabic - and added it was a practice that had gone on for cultural reasons for a long time.

The prosecutor told jurors Ms Noor had "encouraged and assisted" in the offence, and cast doubt on her claim she had only expected the girl to be "pricked" to draw blood.

Ms Heer told the court: "The defendant had been discussing precisely the kind of FGM before she took (the girl) to that clinic.

"She did not enquire whether the people were doctors, or that they were qualified to do what they were supposed to do.

"She did not talk to the Kenyan lady about what procedure would be carried out. After the event, she did not look at [the girl's] wound and said [she] did not appear to be in pain."

Ms Heer continued: "Given what we know had been done to [the girl], can that be true? Or has the defendant sought to minimise her responsibility?"

Ms Heer told the court there was no dispute the girl had been subjected to FGM outside the UK by a Kenyan woman, nor that the girl was a UK citizen.

Jurors were told Ms Noor was born in Somalia and moved to Kenya at the age of eight during the civil war in her home country, before coming to the UK aged 16 and later being granted British citizenship.

The trial continues.

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