A woman appeared in court for allegedly giving a three-year-old British girl to someone who would perform female genital mutilation (FGM) on her in Kenya.
Amina Noor, who is 39 years old, has been accused of helping someone from outside of the UK to harm a girl’s genitalia in 2006.
The supposed crime became known when the person who reported it, who is now 21 years old, told her English teacher at school when she was 16.
Ms Noor, who lives in Harrow, which is in the north-west part of London, says she did not do what she is being accused of.
At the beginning of the trial, prosecutor Deanna Heer KC informed the court that when they questioned Ms. Noor about what had happened, she explained that the procedure included giving an injection and the girl was happy and able to freely move and play afterwards.
But in 2019, when the person who made the complaint was checked, it was found that her clitoris had been completely taken away, according to Ms.
During the court session, it was explained that Ms Noor initially told the story of going to a “clinic” with another woman. In that clinic, a girl was taken to a room for a certain procedure.
The person on trial said that she was asked to come inside, but she didn’t because she felt frightened and anxious.
The jurors were informed that Ms. Noor said the girl was silent, cried all night, and said she was in pain.
‘Supported and helped’
During a later interview with the police, Ms Noor said that nobody had threatened her before the FGM was done to her.
When the defendant was asked if she ever didn’t want the FGM to happen, she said that she had thought about it but ultimately went ahead with it.
Ms Noor said that the things done to the girl were called “Sunnah” in Arabic, which means “tradition” or “way”. She also said that this practice had been happening for a long time because of cultural reasons.
The person in charge of proving the crime in court said that Ms. Noor supported and helped in the offense. They also questioned her statement that she only thought the girl would be slightly hurt to get some blood.
Ms Heer said in court that the defendant talked about the exact type of female genital mutilation before taking the girl to the clinic.
She did not ask if the people were doctors or if they were qualified to do their job.
She didn’t ask the Kenyan lady what would happen during the procedure. After the event, she didn’t look at the girl’s wound and said she didn’t seem to be hurting.
Ms Heer then said, “Considering the harm that was done to the girl, can we really believe that. Or is the defendant trying to downplay her own involvement. ”
Ms Heer told the court that there was no argument about the fact that the girl had undergone FGM (female genital mutilation) outside of the UK by a woman from Kenya, and it was also not disputed that the girl was a citizen of the UK.
The jurors learned that Ms Noor was born in Somalia and went to Kenya when she was eight because of the war in her country. She then came to the UK when she was 16 and became a British citizen.
The trial is still going on.