Two Sentenced To Five Years In Prison For Circumcising A Young Girl

Due to the female genital mutilation of a young girl, two persons will each spend five years in prison (FGM).

Ali Abdullahi Mohamed was accused of subjecting the minor, who was 17 years old to FGM on November 20, 2021 in Bulla Kamor, Mandera town, while acting as her guardian.

FGM was allegedly performed on the child against her will by Hawa Ibrahim Mursal.

The girl, SO, was reportedly subjected to FGM after traveling from Eldoret to Mandera to visit her relatives.

On November 16, Mohamed picked her up at the airport in Mandera and drove her to his house, where she stayed before seeing her father, who had just arrived from Ethiopia.

The child said in court that Mohamed drove her to the Mandera town Mother and Child Clinic on November 20 after she complained of chest problems.

SO was introduced to Mursal, a nurse who worked at the facility.

She claimed the nurse slashed her genitalia with a pair of scissors after injecting her with a medication.

She testified before the court that Mohamed picked her up and drove her back to his house after the “cut.”

On November 26, she claimed to have fled the house undetected with the aid of a taxi driver and gone to the Mandera Police Station.

She informed the station commander (OCS) of the situation, and the OCS volunteered to shelter her at the station until her kinmen arrived.

When Mohamed went in search of her, he was detained at the station.
Later, police officers picked up Mursal from the clinic where she worked.

She denied subjecting the girl to FGM.

She claimed to have received her nursing education from Jopky University in Somalia and to have assisted with minor surgeries at the clinic.

Senior Resident Magistrate Kimani Mukabi of Mandera came to the conclusion that the family set up a plan to have SO undergo FGM.

He claimed that the region engages in detrimental cultural practices to get girls ready for young marriage.

According to Mr. Mukabi, “[Mohamed] was an active participant [in] this diabolical conspiracy who, by premeditation and acting under the direction of other actors, managed to booby-trap the complaint into [the] damaging cultural rite of FGM.”

Mursal’s testimony, according to him, was suspect, unreliable, and contradictory.