Fíona O’Malley from World Visions
Photo: World Visions World Visions Ireland has welcomed the first conviction of a Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)case in Ireland.
On Monday, a married couple were sentenced to prison. The father, aged 37 received five and a half years and the mother, aged 27 received four years and nine months.
Fíona O’Malley from the Christian organisation World Visions Ireland appeared on RTÉ Radio One’s Drive Time to welcome the conviction. “FGM is a complete violation of girls rights,” she said.
She said that the amount of girls and women at risk in Ireland were between 158 and just over 1600 and that the most vulnerable groups were young girls, migrants, refugees and indigenous women “The estimated number of girls at risk of FGM in EU member states is quite complex because of the intimate nature of the crime and because of the lack of data that allows for accurate absolute measurements.”
Plea
The couple had pleaded not guilty to procuring an act of FGM on September 16, 2016.
They were of African origin and were also found guilty on one count of child cruelty.
They had brought their daughter to the hospital claiming she had fallen on a toy while not wearing a nappy, but medical experts felt the explanation was not credible and notified the Gardaí.
The trial heard that they didn’t carry out the FGM themselves but “aided and abetted, counselled or procured” it.