18 October 2023 , 19:39
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A woman removed a three-year-old from her UK home to take her to face female genital mutilation at the hands of unlicensed surgeons at a ‘private house’ in Kenya, a court heard.
Amina Noor, 39, denies the charges and claims she didn’t know the operation would remove the girl’s clitoris. She was charged after the victim told her English teacher what had happened when she was 16 in November 2018. The defendant says she took the victim to a 'clinic' which turned out to be a private house and she did not know if the people there were doctors.
She told police she waited outside while the procedure was performed and claimed the victim was able to run around and play afterwards, the Old Bailey heard. Noor also claimed she was told the victim would only have a minor injection or a piercing and nothing would be removed.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer, KC, told jurors Noor flew the victim to Africa in 2006 and said: “Whilst they were there, she took (the victim) to the house of a Kenyan woman, where she was subjected to female genital mutilation. That involved the complete removal of her clitoris. At the time, she was just three years of age. The medical evidence is accepted and it is clear, the victim's clitoris was removed and an offence of female genital mutilation was committed against her.”
Doctors at University College Hospital in London medically examined the victim on January 11, 2019 and confirmed that her clitoris had been completely removed. Noor, from Edgware, northwest London, appeared in court wearing a purple and grey patterned hijab alongside an interpreter to deny assisting a non-UK citizen to mutilate the genitals of a girl contrary to the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003.
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Noor, who is from Somalia and was granted English citizenship in 2005, denies aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring a non-UK citizen to mutilate the genitals of a UK female citizen. The trial continues.