A community "nurse" accused of mutilating the genitals of two young sisters will face trial next year, with the crown expected to rely on intercepted telephone conversations.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, leaned on her lawyer as she stood up in the Supreme Court in Sydney and formally entered pleas of not guilty on Tuesday.
She is accused of mutilating one girl's clitoris in NSW between October 2010 and 2011, and the other between January and August of 2012.
She has also been charged with two counts of assault causing actual bodily harm to the girls who are now aged around eight and 10 years old.
She is set to join the girls' mother and a sheikh at a trial in August next year.
Crown prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC said his case would rely on medical evidence from the two sisters, as well as telephone intercepts.
While the crown is no longer pursuing charges against the girls' father, Mr Tedeschi alleged he was recorded having conversations about the practice.
"He (the father) has been taped having some phone discussion in which he acknowledges female genital mutilation has occurred," he said.
During the intercepted conversations, it is alleged the word "khatna" was used.
"I would anticipate some dispute between what that term means and what that term involves," Mr Tedeschi told the court.
The father and his two daughters are expected to make applications not to give evidence at the trial.
"(The sisters') competence to give evidence, as we understand it, will be an issue as well."
Describing it as the first case of its kind in Australia that he was aware of, Mr Tedeschi said a factual issue was also expected to arise as to what constituted genital mutilation under the Crimes Act and whether what was allegedly done to the girls fell into one of those categories.
The matter will return to court for mention in February before the trio are expected to face trial in August 3.
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