Court refuses parents’ request for child’s re-examination in FGM appeal

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Court of Appeal refused on 30 August 2021 to order the re-examination of a child whose parents were convicted of carrying out female genital mutilation (FGM) on her.

Mr Justice John Edwards said a further examination was disproportionate and would cause the child further distress. He said a good-quality recording of the latest examination, in 2019, could be used by experts for both sides.

The parents’ lawyers had told the appeal court that Professor Birgitta Essen, a Swedish FGM expert, reviewed the evidence, including an examination video unknown during the trial, and found the girl’s clitoris was still intact. Doctors who gave evidence at trial maintained that it had been removed and that the video confirmed their finding.

Mr Justice Edwards said Professor Essen would be allowed to testify at an appeal hearing to assess whether her testimony should be admitted as new evidence.

The couple pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in November 2019 to carrying out FGM on their then one-year-old daughter at a Dublin address on 16 September 2016. They also pleaded not guilty to child cruelty on that date. The jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on all counts on the eighth day of the trial.

In January 2020, Judge Elma Sheahan sentenced the man to five and a half years in prison and the woman to four years and nine months. The parents cannot be named to protect their child’s identity.

At an earlier sentencing hearing, Detective Inspector Dany Kelly said the father had brought the bleeding child to hospital and explained that she had fallen backwards onto a toy. Medical professionals considered that explanation not credible, the report said. No blood was found on the toy after forensic analysis.

At trial, Dr Sinead Harty said the injury was inconsistent with a fall onto a toy and that the head and glans of the child’s clitoris had been completely removed. In Garda interviews, both parents denied FGM had been carried out; the father said he opposed the practice, while the mother said she had herself been subjected to a different form of FGM.