Parents took daughter to GP for virginity test, court told

AN IRANIAN couple who asked a GP
to carry out a virginity test on their
18-year-old daughter after discovering
she had a secret boyfriend, have gone
on trial charged for subjecting her to
coercive or controlling behaviour.
Mitra Eidiani, 42, and husband Ali
Safaraei, 56, are thought to be the first
parents to be charged under the law
that was brought in three years ago to
clamp down on people who subject
their partners to psychological abuse.
The couple frogmarched their
daughter, Sophia, to a clinic where a GP
refused to examine her without the
girl’s permission.
The teenager was also allegedly bit-
ten by her mother and threatened with
a kitchen knife by her father when they
discovered she was in a relationship
with Bailey Marshall-Telfer, 18.
Kingston Crown Court heard how
the pair took their daughter’s passport
away and threatened to take her back
to Iran to “marry a cousin”.
David Povall, prosecuting, said Ms
Eidiani came home unexpectedly while
Mr Marshall-Telfer was at their house
in Wandsworth, south London.
Sophia told the jury: “We panicked. I
had no choice but to tell him to go on
the roof. We were scared, we didn’t
know what to expect and obviously it
would be a shock for my mum.”
Mr Povall said Sophia’s father then
returned home and she heard her
mother begging him not to hurt her.
He added: “Her father came up to the
room shouting at her angrily, telling
her that he would kill her and insisting
that he and his wife should take Sophia
to the doctor so that it could be checked
whether she was still a virgin.”
But when they got to the clinic, Dr
Helen Lucas, the GP, refused to exam-
ine Sophia without her permission.
Ms Eidiani then accused the GP of
not understanding their culture.
In a statement, Dr Lucas said: “I ex-
plained to Sophia I could not touch her
without her permission and I would
not examine her unless she consented.”
The jury heard that when the family
returned home, Ms Eidiani was so an-
gry she bit Sophia on the arm.
Speaking from behind a screen, So-
phia told jurors: “My father then came
into my room with a big kitchen knife
and said: ‘You have to get checked’.”
Ms Eidiani later visited Mr Marshall-
Telfer at his place of work and allegedly
threatened him.
The couple deny two counts of con-
trolling or coercive behaviour and one
count of making a threat to kill.
Ms Eidiani also denies one count of
assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The trial continues.