First Conviction: 04 - Verdict
Pirate Predator
RTÉ Documentary on One
4.4 • 778 Ratings
🗓️ 22 October 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sayeed and Halawa are facing two charges in court - an act of FGM against their daughter, and child cruelty. If found guilty, they face up to 14 years in prison. Despite all medical witnesses agreeing FGM did happen, as Sayeed takes the stand to give evidence, he is confident the truth will come out… If you have any information or knowledge about this story please email us documentaries@rte.ie or investigations@rte.ie or you can give us an anonymous tip via rte.ie/firstconviction
Credits: First Conviction is hosted by Ruth Negga. It's written and produced by Tim Desmond and Liam O’Brien working together with the RTÉ Investigates team of reporter Pam Fraher, producer Philip Gallagher, assistant editor Aoife Hegarty and Editor David Doran. Sound design by Ciarán Cullen. Sayeed’s words are given voice by Steve Hartland and Halawa’s by Esosa Ighodaro. Legal advice from Deirdre Ann Kelly & Eleanor Bleahene. Original music written by Mel Mercier & performed by Karl Nesbitt, Paul O’Donnell, Niwel Tsumbu, Clara Sanabras with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra conducted by Gavin Maloney. Orchestral String Arrangements by Áine Delaney. Music recording engineers, Donncha Moynihan and Ciarán Cullen. Studio voiceover recordings by Ronan Kelly. Readings are by Dawn Bradfield, Razib Chatterjee, Patrick Dunne, Gerry Gill and Louise Lewis. Production assistance from Shauna McGreevy and Nicoline Greer. Audio product support by Nigel Wheatley. Promo Producer, Fiona Savage. Marketing by Christopher Hayes and Maria Buckley. Design and creatives by Michael McKeon, Sean Malone, Scott Bryan, John Kilkenny and Darragh Treacy. Publicity by Laura Fitzgerald. Socials by James Hartigan & Kate Smyth. London recording engineer, Luke Nagy. Additional online editorial content by Anna Joyce. Publishing weekly.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode contains descriptions of acts of violence against children and female genitalia. |
| 0:06.7 | So take good care as you listen. |
| 0:10.4 | More than 230 million women and girls today have experienced female genital mutilation or FGM. |
| 0:18.5 | This is from a video by the World Health Organization. |
| 0:21.8 | There are different types of FGM, which can involve removing part of all of the external |
| 0:26.7 | videos are part of the wider end FGM global campaign. |
| 0:31.3 | In FGM, they cut off the external part of the clitoris, which would be equivalent to cutting |
| 0:37.4 | off the entire head of the clitoris, which would be equivalent to cutting off the entire head |
| 0:38.9 | of the male penis. FGM continues to be a global issue. Let's all work together to end FGM, protect |
| 0:47.3 | girls and improve their health. From RTE Investigates and RTE Documentary on One, this is first conviction. |
| 1:02.5 | I'm Ruth Naga. |
| 1:05.2 | Episode 4. |
| 1:07.3 | Verdict. |
| 1:18.1 | The couple in this story, Saeed and Halawa, are the first and only people to go on trial in Ireland on charges of committing FGM, punishable by up to 14 years in jail. They say they're |
| 1:25.2 | totally innocent, and eventually people will listen to them. But over the coming |
| 1:30.7 | week they'll struggle to get their message through to anyone. Morning Mr. Costello. |
| 1:37.1 | Good morning, Judge. Thursday the 21st of November, 2019 was day two of their landmark trial |
| 1:43.0 | and it got off to a shaky start. |
| 1:45.6 | I'm told there's a difficulty with an interpreter. |
| 1:48.1 | Okay. |
| 1:48.8 | Again, all court scenes are reenacted in this episode using actors. |
| 1:53.3 | My registrar has informed me that there was a road traffic accident and that one of the |
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