SandyMaloneWest Bloomfield, MI – A Michigan mother, charged in the first female genital mutilation case to be prosecuted in the United States, has asked the judge to remove the monitor because it causes her discomfort.
The woman, whose name has been withheld to protect the identity of her daughter, told the court that the device is “unnecessarily intrusive.”
She is accused of having her daughter’s genitals cut as part of a religious practice within their Indian Muslim sect – the Dawoodi Bohra, according to the Daily Mail.
The West Bloomfield mother, who is charged with having one of the most sensitive parts of her daughter’s body sliced off, wants her ankle monitor removed because it “causes irritation to the skin,” according to court documents filed by her attorney on Tuesday.
Her attorney, Brian Legghio, argues that the ankle monitor “serves no practical purpose and there is no reason to continue wearing it for the next eight months.”
Originally, prosecutors wanted the mother to be given house arrest pending trial, but Judge Bernard A. Friedman was satisfied with an ankle monitor as an electronic tether, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The mother complained to the court about the fact the device can’t be removed, even for sleeping and showering, and said it is “physically uncomfortable.”
“It’s visual presence and it’s intermittent beeping requires [her] to explain to her 8-year-old and 5-year-old children why their mother must wear an electronic bracelet on her ankle,” her attorney wrote.
He pointed out that his client has “no prior criminal record whatsoever” and poses no threat to the community.
The case in which the mother is charged involves eight defendants, including two doctors, a physician’s wife, and four mothers.
All of the defendants are accused of participating in various degrees of subjecting young girls to genital cutting as part of a religious practice.
Prosecutors have not yet weighed in on the mother’s request.