A UK NHS hospital doctor has become the first person to stand trial for female genital mutilation after being accused of illegally stitching up a young woman who had just given birth to her first child.
A report in The Independent says that Dr Dhanuson Dharmasena, a registrar at the Whittington Hospital in north London, allegedly carried out a similar procedure to one first performed on the woman when she was aged six in Somalia. The doctor, who delivered the woman’s baby, said that he came under pressure from Hasan Mohamed, which led him to insert a single-running stitch about 1.5cm long that had the same effect as when she was circumcised as a child, Southwark Crown Court was told.
The midwife working with Dharmasena told him that what he had done was 'illegal' and spoke privately with him so he could write in the medical notes what had happened, the prosecution said. Dharmasena denies one charge of FGM. Mohamed denies the same charge by aiding and abetting. The trial continues, the report states.
[link url="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/female-g%20enital-mutilation-nhs-doctor-becomes-first-person-to-stand-trial-for-involvement-in-the-unpopular-practice-9989014.html"]Full report in The Independent[/link]