A pregnant British Muslim woman, Georgina Richards, was ordered by magistrates at Leicester Magistrates Court to remove her veil while giving evidence against her ex-partner Ismail Mangera.
According to the Daily Mail, Georgina initially refused for religious reasons, but reluctantly agreed when magistrates told her that they might not accept her evidence if they could not see her “facial expressions”.
“We need to see a person’s facial expressions to assess the evidence they are giving. If you refuse to remove your veil, we may not be able to accept your evidence,” chairman of the bench Lawrence Faulkner told her.
Georgina eventually gave evidence against Mangera from behind a screen in the courtroom. Magistrates heard that Mangera attacked Georgina between April 1 and April 30.
The 30-year-old was found guilty of punching Georgina in the face and scrawling abuse on her front door. After the hearing, Georgina hit out at the magistrates for forcing her to remove her veil.
“I was a bit unhappy that he told me to take my veil off. They put screens up next to me, but I didn’t really want to do it. But I thought the case would be dropped if I didn’t take it off,” Georgina said.
“It just made me feel uncomfortable. They wanted to see the expression on my face, but I don’t think it really matters, I think I could have done it with my veil on. Now I just feel relieved that I’ve said what I’ve got to say,” she added. Sentencing has been deferred until October 20 to allow a probation report to be produced.