Man jailed for 'shocking circumcision' on infant

A 55-year-old man has been jailed for three years for carrying out a "barbaric" circumcision without anaesthetic on a ten-month-old boy.

The baby needed emergency urgent medical attention and was hospitalised for two weeks.

Father-of-six Philip Ogbewe, of Green Lanes, Drogheda, Co Louth, who is originally from Nigeria, has no medical qualifications but continued to carry out circumcisions while out on bail

He called himself Doctor Philip. He has been carrying out circumcisions since he was in his mid-teens in a tradition that went back to the time of his great-grandfather - but he has no medical qualifications and in his 20 years in Ireland worked as a grocer and fridge technician

The investigation into Ogbowe's activities began after a baby boy was brought into Mullingar hospital bleeding heavily after a crude circumcision

The child's mother had sought the traditional ritual and thought Ogbowe was a doctor after he arrived at her home wearing a stethoscope.

She paid him €200 but when she rang him later about the baby haemorrhaging he told her this was to be expected and to give him Calpol or Neurofen

When gardaí searched his car they found his medical kit a canvas bag with a surgical blade, a razor blade, thread, cotton wool, Vaseline, and a disinfectant liquid.

Judge Keenan Johnson described this as "a barbaric act of cruelty on a ten-month-old and even allowing for cultural norms, reckless in the extreme".

He said Ogbowe had masqueraded as "a quack doctor", he knew it was illegal here but had continued to carry out circumcisions even while on bail.