First Conviction: 05 - 750 days
Pirate Predator
RTÉ Documentary on One
4.4 • 778 Ratings
🗓️ 29 October 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Having been found guilty and sentenced to 5 years in prison, Sayeed and Halawa are taken to separate jails in Ireland to serve out their sentences. Deprived of their freedom, and with their children now placed in the care of relatives, life in prison is hard beyond belief. But they cannot give up hope - and from inside their prison cells, they begin to fight back to get justice… 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 www.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 | By late afternoon on November 28th, 2019, the DPP team of solicitors and barristers left the criminal courts of justice in Dublin, the CCJ, having secured the first ever conviction in Ireland for female genital mutilation. |
| 0:18.4 | I remember I was crying and sad. |
| 0:22.5 | And then two officers, they grabbed me and I said, where am I going? |
| 0:28.4 | And they said, you are guilty and you're going to prison. |
| 0:33.0 | Inside the CCJ, Sayyed and Halawa's whirls were breaking apart. |
| 0:38.3 | When they brought us down to the ground floor, I heard my wife say, |
| 0:43.3 | Will we go in together? |
| 0:45.3 | She was crying and asking me, will we go to the same place at least? |
| 0:51.3 | And I said, I don't know really. |
| 1:01.9 | Saeed and Alawa were separated, each placed inside a basement holding cell, awaiting transfer to prison. On the outside, news of their conviction was beginning to echo around |
| 1:09.7 | Ireland and the world. |
| 1:11.6 | A couple have been found guilty of female genit... |
| 1:15.6 | After a while they called me and they said, |
| 1:18.6 | Let's go. You're going to prison, where you're going to stay. |
| 1:22.6 | The first trial of its kind in this country, |
| 1:25.6 | the 37-year-old man and 27-year-old woman who cannot be named... |
| 1:29.9 | I'm Ruth Naga. |
| 1:31.5 | From RTE Documentary on 1 and RTE Investigates. |
| 1:36.0 | This is first conviction. |
| 1:40.0 | Episode 5. |
| 1:42.0 | 750 days. |
| 1:47.0 | In the hours after their convictions, all Halawa could think about was her children, and when she would see them again. |
... |
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