A woman claiming to be a nurse from Nigeria has been jailed after circumcising and nearly killing a 2-month-old baby.
Taiwo Shittu, 55, known to her patients as ‘Ms Alhaja’ received a £100 payment from the parents of the baby to perform the surgery at their home in Islington. However, the child lost a large amount of blood during the procedure and the concerned parents rushed the child to a nearby hospital, where upon examination doctors found his condition to be life-threatening. He was taken to Guy’s and St Thomas Hospital in Lambeth where he underwent emergency surgery.
Specialist detectives from Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Command launched an investigation into the incident and, after Shittu refused to hand herself over to police, she was arrested at her home in Dulwich. Police found medical instruments in her residence, including surgical scissors and hospital grade antibiotics.
When questioned by police, Shittu claimed that she was a nurse and midwife in Nigeria before arriving in the UK in 2004 and insisted that she had previously conducted successful circumcisions in both Nigeria and the UK. However, after further investigation she was found to be a fraud with no medical qualifications in the UK.
On Friday April 11th Shittu pleaded guilty to Grievous Bodily Harm and was sentenced to 30 weeks imprisonment.
Detective Sergeant Kam Sodhi of the Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said:
“Shittu claimed to be an experienced nurse but she has no medical qualifications either as a nurse or midwife in the UK.
“The care she provided in the course of the procedure was so bad that it not only put a very young baby in a life-threatening condition but it amounted to a serious crime.
“This was a medical procedure which, like any other, carries a risk. She failed to properly manage it and because of this caused the baby a serious and permanent injury.”
