A Sheikh and a retired nurse facing charges over the genital mutilation of two young girls have failed in their legal bid to have their names kept secret from the public.
Sheik Shabbir Mohammedbhai Vaziri, 56, and nurse Helen Magennis, 68, from Sydney's Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community, have been charged over the genital mutilation of a six-year-old girl and seven-year-old girl in separates incidents between October 2010 and July this year.
Police say that Ms Magennis carried out the procedures on the two girls in suburban homes in Wollongong and Baulkham Hills while Sheikh Vaziri was allegedly an accessory - harbouring, maintaining and assisting those involved.
It is also alleged the Sheikh later instructed members of the Dawoodi Bohar community to lie to police about what had happened.
Six other members of the close-nit Dawoodi Bohar community, including the parents of the two girls, are also facing charges over the alleged mutilations.
In Parramatta Local Court today, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions successfully applied for a non-publication order made on Sheikh Vaziri's name in September to be overturned.
The DPP also successfully defeated an application by Ms Magennis to have a non-publication order placed on her name.
Lawyers for the accused, David Randle and Elee Georges, argued that the publication of their client's names would prevent them from getting a fair trial, and could lead to the identification of the two girls.
But Magistrate Brian van Zuylen rejected this.
"The court isn't convinced that identifying these people would lead to an inevitable tracing back and identifying of the [alleged] victims," he said.
"Nor would it prevent the proper administration of justice or interfere with the opportunity for a fair trial."
All eight members of the community charged in relation to the genital mutilations will re-appear in court in February next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment