Epress.am News from Armenia
A baby girl born out of wedlock must be adopted to save her from the risk of being slaughtered in an “honour killing”, a court ruled yesterday.
If the unmarried Muslim woman’s father found out about the child, he would feel such “unimaginable shame” he could unleash a vengeful bloodbath by killing the baby and his whole family, three senior judges agreed.
So they made the extraordinary order to have the one-year-old girl – known as Baby Q – adopted for her own safety, Daily Mail Online reports.
She will now grow up with adoptive parents and, when she is older, they will explain to her why she could not have been brought up by her biological parents.
It is believed to be the first time an English court has ordered an adoption to prevent a murder.
The baby’s maternal grandmother told police that if her husband ever found out about the little girl, “he would consider himself honour-bound to kill the child, the mother, the grandmother herself and the grandmother’s other children,” the court heard.
The identities of all those involved have been kept anonymous to ensure the girl can grow up safe from her apparently murderous grandfather – who still has no idea his daughter was ever pregnant.
The astonishing background to the case was set out at the Appeal Court in London yesterday.
The baby’s mother – referred to as M – conceived the child at the end of 2009 when she was having an affair with a married man, known as F.
Neither the mother nor the father were born in the UK and both came to live here separately within the past ten years. They are both Muslims, but from different cultures.
At the time of his infidelity, F’s wife was still waiting for permission to join him in the UK, though she is now here.
When M suspected she was pregnant, in the spring of 2010, she was so “terrified” of how her “traditional Muslim” father would react that she concealed her pregnancy by wearing loose clothes.
She continued living at home and was confident her growing bump would not show unless someone “was looking.”
She travelled to “the other side of town” for her antenatal care, to avoid her parents finding out, and only had her pregnancy confirmed at 23 weeks.
Eventually she confided in her mother and a sister, and they hatched a secret plan that when she went into labour, someone would call her father away on a pretext, to ensure he never found out.
She also told social services she wanted the baby to be adopted straight away.
Baby Q was born in the autumn of 2010. At just a few hours old, baby and mother were parted as M was discharged from hospital and baby Q was left in the care of nursing staff.
By December, she was placed in the care of the Muslim couple who are now about to adopt her. The court case came about because the baby’s natural father, F, discovered he had a daughter and wanted to take custody of her himself.
But a High Court judge, Justice Parker, rejected him as unsuitable in July this year, and said the baby would still be “at risk” of an honour killing because “two and two might easily be put together” by the maternal grandfather or someone who knew him.
The baby was “quite obviously” not the child of F’s wife, the judge said, adding: “If the grandfather’s community were thus to find out about the relationship between M and F, it would be a matter of intense almost unimaginable shame to him and his family.”
There was a “very significant risk” he might launch a violent attack to preserve the family’s honour.
The court heard Justice Parker had been “persuaded by the evidence of the police” that the mother and baby Q could be at “a very high level of risk” if the baby’s birth was to become known in the wider community.
The police force in question was not identified, nor the social services department involved in the case. But the court was told that social workers, police and the mother of baby Q were all in agreement that she should be adopted.
Still hopeful of taking custody of his child, F launched an appeal, but this was rejected yesterday by three senior judges, Lord Justice Munby, Lady Justice Black and Lord Justice Kitchin.
They agreed with the first judge that there were several good reasons why F and his wife – who now have a baby of their own – should not be allowed to bring up baby Q.
Among them was the “tension” that would be caused by F’s wife looking after her philandering husband’s illegitimate child as well as her own.
Both F and his wife also lacked “empathy and insight,” and were criticized as being incapable of dealing with the little girl’s feelings as she grew older and wanted to learn the details of her “very unfortunate start in life.”
The judges concluded: “The risks – physical, emotional, short and long term – are too great for Q to be brought up by her father.”
Although F and his wife’s “care and warmth” towards their own child was taken into account, the judges concluded there was “a high likelihood” they would feel differently about baby Q.
By contrast, baby Q had quickly developed a deep attachment to her adoptive parents, known as Mr and Mrs A, Muslims who live in the UK but come from the same country as the baby’s mother.
They had a “high degree of empathy, sympathy, insight and maturity,” and the judges said they had “absolute confidence” in Mr and Mrs A to give Q information about her background, her life, what happened to her mother, the feelings of her father, her father’s wishes for her, and the fact she has another family.”
Mr and Mrs A have taken baby Q “into their family and community…and into their hearts,” it was said.