The first person to be convicted in the UK for female genital mutilation gets 11 years in jail.
ADVERTISEMENTA woman has been sentenced to 11 years in jail for carrying out female genital mutilation (FGM), becoming the first person in Britain to be convicted of the crime.
The 37-year-old mother from Uganda had her daughter cut at their home in London but subsequently called 999 when she started to bleed heavily.
Police were called to investigate after hospital staff did not believe the mother's story that her daughter had fallen off a kitchen worktop.
The woman was convicted of FGM offences in February - the first time this has happened for a case like this in the UK, since the practice was criminalised in 1985.
Following the incident, which happened in August 2017, the victim had to undergo emergency surgery.
Speaking in court, the judge said: "FGM has long been against the law and let's be clear FGM is a form of child abuse."
"It's a barbaric practice and a serious crime. It's an offence which targets women, particularly inflicted when they are young and vulnerable," she added.
The mother's motive for inflicting FGM on her daughter is not known, but the judge cited witchcraft as a possibility.