A couple have had their convictions for the female genital mutilation (FGM) of their one-year-old daughter, which were quashed after they spent two years in prison, declared a miscarriage of justice.
Their trial was the first of its kind in Ireland and was the subject of an RTÉ documentary late last year.
At the Court of Appeal on Friday, Judge Patrick McCarthy said newly discovered facts disclosed in expert reports show that there has been a miscarriage of justice.
“We find on the balance of probabilities that the applicants are factually innocent,” he said, “For this reason we grant a certificate pursuant to S9 (1) (a) of the Criminal Procedure Act 1993.”
The husband and wife became the first people to be convicted of the charge in the history of the State, after a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury found them guilty in November 2019 of carrying out an act of FGM on their daughter at a Dublin address on September 16th, 2016.
Both had pleaded...
