A woman has been found guilty of helping to carry out the female genital mutilation (FGM) of a three-year-old British girl during a trip to Kenya.
Amina Noor, 39, was convicted at the Old Bailey in central London of assisting a non-UK person to carry out FGM on the girl in 2006.
The conviction is the first of its kind and carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.
Somali-born Noor, from Harrow, northwest London, travelled with the child to Kenya where she took her to a private house where the girl was subjected to FGM – also known as female circumcision or cutting.
The crime came to light years later when the girl was aged 16 and confided in her English teacher at school.
The victim, who is now aged 21, cannot be identified for legal reasons.
Noor had earlier told her trial she feared being “disowned and cursed” by community members if she did not take part.
The defendant described what had been done to the girl as “Sunnah”, meaning “tradition” in Arabic, and said it was a practice that had gone on for cultural reasons for many years.
According to UN figures, 94% of females of Somali origin living in Kenya undergo FGM.
Practice ‘shrouded in secrecy’
Senior crown prosecutor Patricia Strobino said: “This kind of case will hopefully encourage potential victims and survivors of FGM to come forward, safe in the knowledge that they are supported, believed and also are able to speak their truth about what’s actually happened to them.
“It will also send a clear message to those prospective defendants or people that want to maintain this practice that it doesn’t matter whether they assist or practise or maintain this practice within the UK, or overseas, they are likely to be prosecuted.”
She added: “Part of the challenge of this type of offence is the fact that these types of offences occur in secrecy.
“Within specific communities within the UK, although these offences and practices are prevalent, it’s often very difficult to get individuals to come forward to explain the circumstances of what’s happened to them because there was a fear that they may be excluded or pushed away or shunned, isolated from their community.”
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To date, the only other successful prosecution was in 2019 when a Ugandan woman from Walthamstow, east London, was jailed for 11 years for cutting a three-year-old girl.
Mr Justice Bryan thanked jurors for sitting on a case which they may have found “emotional”.
The judge adjourned the case and granted Noor conditional bail until her sentencing on 20 December.
