FGM: Woman feared curse if she refused to hand girl over, jury told

The trial is taking place at the Old Bailey

A woman feared being "cursed" if she failed to hand over a three-year-old British girl for female genital mutilation (FGM), a court has heard.

Amina Noor, 39, is on trial at the Old Bailey charged with assisting a non-UK person to mutilate the girl overseas, 17 years ago.

Jurors have heard the girl was subjected to FGM on a trip to Kenya in 2006.

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

Giving evidence, Ms Noor said she would have been "disowned and cursed" by community members if she did not take part.

The alleged offence only came to light in 2018 after the girl confided in her English teacher at school when she was aged 16.

'I had no power'

When Noor was interviewed by police, she denied that anyone had made threats against her to force her to agree to assisting FGM.

But in her defence in her trial, Noor said she had been told she would be disowned.

She said: "I didn't know whether this was going to be something that is harming [the girl] but I did not want to allow it whatever it might be.

"I was told I would be cursed if I refuse."

She told jurors she "felt pain" over the threat, saying: "That was a pressure I had no power to do anything about."

The defendant suggested that her words about being disowned and cursed were not relayed by the interpreter, although jurors were told translations of the interviews were agreed.

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

Jurors have heard the defendant was born in Somalia and moved to Kenya at the age of eight during the civil war in her home country.

She was 16 when she came to the United Kingdom and was later granted British citizenship.

The court was told that 94% of females of Somali origin living in Kenya undergo FGM, according to United Nations figures.

There was no dispute in the case that the girl had been subjected to FGM outside the UK by a Kenyan woman, nor that the alleged victim was a UK citizen.

The girl, who is now aged 21, cannot be identified for legal reasons.

The trial continues.

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