A COUPLE accused of genital mutilation of their young daughter said she sustained her injury by falling on a toy “activity centre.”

The child was 21 months old when her parents brought her to hospital for immediate assistance as she was bleeding from her genitals, part of which had been removed, a court heard.

Doctors said she would have gone into shock if she had not been operated on to stop the blood loss, and gardai were contacted when the parent's "story didn't match."

The father (37) and mother (27) have gone on trial accused of mutilation of the girl at their south Dublin home on Sept. 16, 2016.

They are also charged with allowing her to be ill-treated or neglected, causing unnecessary suffering or injury.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard it was not alleged they performed the actual act of mutilation but that they “aided, abetted, counselled or procured” the commission of the offence.

They deny both charges.

Prosecutor Shane Costello SC told the jury the parents both presented at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin with their daughter and asked for assistance because she was bleeding and they were concerned for her health.

The girl was examined by a paediatric surgeon who found the clitoral head had been removed and "took the view that the injury she sustained was non accidental,” Mr Costello said.

She underwent a procedure to stop the bleeding.

After, a referral was made to the gardai, who interviewed the accused.

A toy was seized by the gardai from the couple’s home, as “the accused had suggested that the injury (their daughter) sustained was as a result of falling on this toy,” Mr Costello said.

Paediatric surgeon, Dr Sri Paran told the jury the girl was brought in to surgery at about 4.30pm to 5pm after “conservative” measures did not stop the bleeding.

The injury, “almost like a cut”, was fresh, the bleeding was “quite brisk”, and he estimated 4pm as the “ballpark” time it was caused.

The wound was cauterised to control to the bleeding, after which it was noticed that the clitoral head was absent, he said.

Dr Paran said if gone untreated, the girl would have “dropped haemoglobin significantly” and by the following morning, she would have had difficulty breathing. Within 20 hours, she would not have been able to maintain oxygen saturation and would have gone into shock, he said.

After the operation, he spoke to the girl’s father.

“He said she was coming out of the bathroom without a nappy on and something happened where she was moving backwards, she fell onto a toy and sustained the injury,” Dr Paran said.

He was shown the toy, which had “a steering wheel and a few things indicating probably a car.”

“I felt that this is not a crush injury… the story didn’t match,” he said.

Cross-examined by Patrick Gageby SC, for the girl's mother, he said the girl seemed otherwise well-cared for.

Dr Paran agreed it was initially noted that other parts of the genitalia were missing or partly missing, but on closer examination he saw this was intact, but with a cut inside.

Consultant paediatrician Dr Sinead Harty said when she examined the girl on September 19, she looked “very well cared for” and was in reasonably good form.

The father told Dr Harty the mother had changed the child's nappy in the bathroom.

She came out without her nappy, he had said, he showed his daughter a toy which frightened her and this caused her to move backwards and fall on toys.

“My opinion was the injury I was seeing wasn’t consistent with a fall on a toy,” Dr Harty said, “because there was no bruising or swelling on the outside, on the skin. It was very internal.”

The history “didn’t fit the findings,” she said, and because the only injury was that the clitoris was missing, she thought it was caused by Female Genital Mutilation.

The mother brought the toy, which was an activity centre with a steering wheel and said it was “a little mirror" that the girl fell on.

The toy was produced in court as an exhibit and shown to Dr Harty.

In cross-examination, Dr Harty agreed with Mr Gageby that Tusla had become involved and a safety plan was put in place.

Social workers were of the opinion that “they are good parents to their children.”

Dr Harty said there were no fingermarks on the child’s arms or legs indicating she had been held down.

Consultant haematologist Dr Beatrice Nolan said the girl showed no evidence of a blood disorder.

Earlier, Colman Fitzgerald SC, for the girl's father, said the accused were both accepting the lawfulness of their arrest, detention, the search of their flat, and that they gave consent over taking of blood samples and release of medical records.

The trial continues before Judge Elma Sheahan and a jury of eight men and four women.

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