Plumstead baby nearly killed after botched circumcision by Nigerian ‘nurse’

Taiwo Shittu, aged 55, of Atwood House, Dulwich, has been jailed for 30 weeks after pleading guilty to GBH at Woolwich Crown Court.

On November 23 last year, the baby boy was brought into Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s A&E department in Woolwich by his parents who were concerned about the amount of blood he was losing following the procedure.

Doctors examined the child and deemed his condition to be life-threatening. He was immediately transferred to Guy's and Thomas' for emergency surgery, where a team of plastic surgeons attempted to rectify the damage caused to his penis.

Due to the seriousness of the child's condition, specialist detectives from the Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command launched an investigation.

The parents of the child told officers they had arranged for Shittu - whom they named 'Ms Alhaja' - to perform the procedure at their Plumstead home and had paid her £100.

Efforts to trace Shittu began immediately and she was arrested in Dulwich on December 2 last year after ignoring all requests to make contact with officers.

Her home address was searched and officers found medical paraphernalia including hospital grade antibiotics and surgical scissors.

Shittu stated she was a nurse and midwife in her native Nigeria and that she had performed many circumcisions there and in the UK since her arrival in 2004.

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."