FGM butchery

Dr Dhanuson Dharmasena has been accused of carrying out female genital mutilation (FGM) and Hasan Mohamed charged with encouraging and abetting the offence (your report, 20 January). However, this is not a straightforward case since the woman had been subjected to FGM as a six-year-old in Somalia.

The more pertinent question must be: why is this the first prosecution of its kind in the UK?

FGM butchery has been outlawed in Britain since 1985 and an estimated 170,000 women, girls and children in Britain have suffered from this barbaric custom. The World Health Organisation estimates that 130 million women worldwide have undergone FGM.

Why are children at risk not routinely medically examined?

We know the countries involved, so people coming here need to be given the clear message that their child will have regular examinations and if this horrendous crime has taken place, then they will be deported.

One must assume that the police, social workers and others were frightened of being called racist and that they backed off, concluding that “it’s their culture”.

Clark Cross

Linlithgow