Row Over Muslim Woman’s Pubic Hair Costs Taxpayers £350,000
TO shave or not to shave? What says the judge who oversaw a case costing £350,000 that hinged on whether a disabled 23-year-old Muslim woman should have shaved pubic hair?
Her parents wanted it shaved before she returned home to live with them. They said it was a Muslim matter. The council, which cares for the woman, said it was unsure if the woman understood what the procedure meant. So. It went to court.
At the last minute, the couple dropped the case. The woman, now in her thirties, was awarded £25,000 from the public purse for reasons we can’t fathom.
At the High Court, Mr Justice Roderic Wood said:
“I thus remain utterly baffled by the course this litigation has taken, and perplexed by this lack of clarity in their case. Obtaining a 10-day slot of a High Court Judge’s time is not easy, for there are many competing cases of equal if not greater urgency than this one.”
The matter cost the council £138,000, the couple of £82,000 and the official solicitor, appearing for ED, of £130,000. But none of them paid. You did. The taxpayer paid it all.
The judge added:
“This is an astonishing sum of money. Particularly when one considers…that the ultimate resolution is that the parents have, ultimately with their own ‘consent’, agreed to orders which dismiss any hope of ED coming to live with them and a significant reduction in her contact with them.”
Madness.
Posted: 22nd, October 2013 | In: Money, Reviews, Strange But True Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
