Former Nottingham University student found guilty of female genital mutilation charge

A former Nottingham University student has been found guilty of conspiring to commit female genital mutilation (FGM).

Emad Kaky, 47, who was a PhD student at the time of the offence, is the third defendant to be convicted in England and Wales under the FGM Act.

Kaky was found guilty by the jury after a two-week trial at Nottingham Crown Court. The defendant, however, will not be sentenced until Thursday 3rd October.

He had arranged for a girl to come to the UK from Iraq and messages suggest that the young victim would have been subject to female genital mutilation and forced into marriage.

The Nottingham Post reported that upon Kaky’s arrest two phones were seized and revealed messages in which he stated the victim “is not going to die, [and] a lot of people are practising it.”

Further messages were sent to a witness, where the defendant said: “All of my tribe had done it and they lead a normal life, nothing happened to them” and “this is not a killing, this is something normal”.

Kaky was found guilty in what Janine McKinney, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS East Midlands, defined as a “landmark case”.

“Female genital mutilation is a horrific crime to subject anyone to – let alone a child.

“There was clear evidence that Emad Kaky had intended for this young girl to suffer incredible harm and to be forced into an illegal marriage she would have had no ability to resist at such a young age.

“This landmark case sends a strong message to offenders of this sickening crime. Just because an offence has been committed somewhere else in the world, [it] does not stop you facing prosecution.”

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Duncan Atkinson KC, also for the prosecution, stated upon the defendant’s arrest two mobile phones were seized and that a number of messages referring to FGM had been deleted.

He said: “You might conclude this is not a coincidence and shows that the defendant recognised his actions, and his messages relating to FGM, represented criminal conduct.

“He provided an account in interview to the effect that he had never heard of FGM and denied he had been involved in arranging that [the female] was to be subjected to it. He prepared a lengthy prepared statement [in which] he denied ever entertaining the idea of FGM.”

Feature image via Google Maps

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