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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Doctor found not guilty of performing FGM | Doctor found not guilty of performing FGM |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| An NHS doctor has been cleared of performing female genital mutilation (FGM) on a young mother. | |
| Dhanuson Dharmasena, 32, was accused of carrying out the illegal procedure when stitching the woman after she gave birth at the Whittington Hospital, north London, in 2012. | Dhanuson Dharmasena, 32, was accused of carrying out the illegal procedure when stitching the woman after she gave birth at the Whittington Hospital, north London, in 2012. |
| A second man, Hasan Mohammed, 41, has been cleared of aiding and abetting him. | |
| The trial is the first prosecution of its kind in the UK. | The trial is the first prosecution of its kind in the UK. |
| 'Hung out to dry' | |
| A jury acquitted Dr Dharmasena after less than half an hour of deliberations. | |
| Defence barrister Zoe Johnson QC said he had "been hung out to dry" and forced to pay the "ultimate price" for hospital failings. | |
| It had been alleged that the stitching Dr Dharmasena performed on the woman effectively redid the FGM carried out on her as a six-year-old in Somalia. | |
| Dr Dharmasena, of Ilford, north-east London, told Southwark Crown Court he "regarded FGM as an abhorrent practice". |