Woman, 39, is found guilty of aiding the female genital mutilation of a three-year-old British girl during a trip to Kenya in first conviction of its kind

Amina Noor, 39, has been found guilty at the Old Bailey of assisting a non-UK person to carry out female genital mutilation on a three-year-old British girl during a trip to Kenya in 2006, in the first conviction of its kind.

It is the first time a person in England and Wales has been convicted of female genital mutilation (FGM) offences committed abroad and carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.

Noor, from London, claimed in a police interview that the little girl would have been injected or pierced in a ‘procedure’ known as ‘Gudniin’ – the Arabic word for circumcision.

But medical experts who examined the child found she had not been simply injected but had suffered severe mutilation of her genitals. 

The horrific procedure would have most likely caused significant bleeding and extreme pain, especially if an astringent agent was used to stop the bleeding.

Amina Noor, 39, has been found guilty at the Old Bailey of assisting a non-UK person to carry out female genital mutilation on a three-year-old British girl during a trip to Kenya in 2006, in the first conviction of its kind 

The landmark case saw the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) working alongside the police and National Crime Agency to prove that during her visit to Kenya, Noor knew some form of FGM was being committed against the victim.

Investigators were able to find that she intentionally assisted with the commission of the offence. 

Noor, who was today convicted by a jury at the Old Bailey in London, will be sentenced at a later date. She did not react as the Somali interpreter told her the verdict.

To date, the only other successful prosecution of under the FM Act of 2003, was in 2019 when a Ugandan woman from Walthamstow, east London, was jailed for 11 years for cutting a three-year-old girl. 

The 37-year-old woman, who cannot be named, had arranged for the little girl to be pinned down and mutilated in a filthy flat in east London in August 2017. She was jailed for 13 years at the Old Bailey.

It is estimated that 94 per cent of Somali women living in Kenya undergo the horrendous procedure in the mistaken belief that it is a religious requirement. 

Noor was charged after the victim told her English teacher what happened when she was 16 in November 2018. 

The then teenager was taken to a hospital where she was examined.

The court heard: ‘On 11 January 2019 [the victim] was medically examined by doctors at University College Hospital here in London. It was found that her clitoris had been completely removed.’

Noor was born in Somalia but moved to Mombasa in Kenya when she was eight after the outbreak of civil war in Somalia.

In 2003 she was granted refugee status in the UK before she became a UK citizen in 2005.

Prosecutor Deanna Heer, KC, previously told jurors Noor flew the victim to Kenya in 2006.

‘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.’

Giving evidence, Noor had said she feared being ‘cursed’ if she did not allow the young British girl to have the procedure. 

When probed, Noor said the procedure was called ‘Sunnah’ – an Arabic word meaning ‘tradition’ or ‘way’ – and ‘Gudninn’ – the Somali word for circumcision. 

‘You will hear expert evidence that “Sunnah Gudniin” is a particular term which means removal of the clitoris,’ Ms Heer said.

Giving evidence Noor, assisted by a Somali interpreter, said she did not know what the words meant at the time.

Senior crown prosecutor Patricia Strobino hailed Noor’s conviction saying: ‘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.’

Jaswant Narwal, CPS national lead for honour-based abuse, female genital mutilation and forced marriage, added: ‘Female genital mutilation is a form of violence against women and girls, and in the latter case it is child abuse.

‘There are many complexities involved in prosecuting this type of offending, which can be committed in close-knit communities, historically, and abroad, but this is no barrier to the CPS prosecuting wherever our legal test is met.

‘We are clear there is no place for this unacceptable practice in society. We will continue to work tirelessly with our partners to safeguard and support victims of FGM and bring perpetrators to justice.’

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