Women plead guilty to planning female genital mutilation of two-week-old baby girl in Perth

Two women have pleaded guilty to charges related to their attempt to have a baby girl circumcised in Perth.

The women, aged 23 and 50 at the time, faced court in March after being charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.

They have pleaded guilty to conspiring in Canning Vale to commit unlawful genital mutilation.

The baby girl was two weeks old at the time of the offences in January.

Police had said they were alerted after the women approached a doctor and asked them to conduct a female circumcision on the baby.

The doctor refused and the procedure did not happen.

The women entered their guilty pleas when they appeared in Armadale Magistrates Court this morning and will be sentenced in the District Court in Perth in August.

The pair did not speak to the media outside the court.

When the women were charged in March, WA Police said “practices which may be acceptable by some cultures and in some countries may constitute criminal offences in Western Australia”.

Procedures that remove part or all of the external female genitalia or cause injury to female genital organs for non-medical reasons are illegal across Australia.

It is believed around 53,000 women live with female genital mutilation across the country.

Clinical practice guidelines from WA’s Women and Newborn Health Service explain that the procedure is usually carried out between the ages of 4 and 10 years old, but may be conducted “just before marriage, during pregnancy or post-birth”.

“The motivation for communities to practice [female genital mutilation] varies wildly but includes psychosexual and sociological reasons, hygiene and aesthetic reasons and myths,” it reads.

“It is a practice that is deeply entrenched in cultural heritage and traditions.”

Australia’s first prosecution for female genital mutilation was recorded in November 2015.