Woman who killed girl with bedbug poison spared jail

A woman who accidentally killed an 11-year-old neighbour with poisonous gas she used to exterminate bedbugs has been spared jail by a judge at the Old Bailey.

Jesmin Akter, 34, had illegally imported aluminium phosphide from Italy to deal with an infestation in her flat in Shadwell, Tower Hamlets, east London.

She did not read the packaging before distributing a deadly amount around her flat and taking her family out for 24 hours.

It seeped into a neighbouring flat, killing Fatiha Sabrin on her birthday and causing another young child to be hospitalised, in December 2021.

The substance reacted with moisture, creating the poisonous gas phosphine, which has been likened to a chemical warfare agent.

Akter admitted manslaughter by committing an unlawful act and importing a regulated substance.

She was sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for two years, and must carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Alexia Durran noted there had been a problem with bedbugs in the defendant's block of flats.

She said: "The landlord had taken some action but it appears to have been rather cursory and the employees used to carry out the fumigation in the past do not appear to have been well trained or trained at all."

Akter's decision to deal with the issue by taking aluminium phosphide on a passenger flight from Italy could have caused a "catastrophic mid-air incident and put hundreds of lives at risk" if the packaging had been damaged, the judge said.

Within a "relatively short period" of Akter distributing the tablets in her flat, other occupants, including children in the block began to feel unwell, she said.

The judge referred to a moving statement from Fatiha's "heartbroken" father, Mohammed Islam.

He described his daughter as an "amazing, intelligent child who made friends with everyone and was a great help to her mother".

Judge Durran said: "Fatiha died on her 11th birthday. It is now a date that haunts her family.

"The sentence I impose will not bring Fatiha back and will seem inadequate to Fatiha's family."

The judge noted Akter's previous good character and told her: "I understand you are overwhelmed with crippling guilt.

"It seems highly unlikely you will ever forget what happened to Fatiha was the result of your actions.

"A young life full of promise has been lost."

Fatiha woke at 04:00 GMT on 11 December complaining to her mother Kaniz that she needed the toilet and was vomiting.

Her mother called her GP and the helpline 111 before phoning 999 at 09:30.

Initially, Fatiha was advised by paramedics to take diarrhoea medication and eat plain food.

London Fire Brigade checked for carbon dioxide poisoning but found nothing, the court heard. Meanwhile, other residents started coughing raising fears of Covid.

At 13:30, emergency services were called again as Fatiha's condition deteriorated. Paramedics found she had stopped breathing. She died in hospital just before 17:30.

The levels of phosphine gas that were later found to have escaped into the Fatiha's home were estimated as being between two and a half and 26 times the known lethal dose, the Old Bailey heard.

The quantity of aluminium phosphide used by Akter was nearly three times the amount recommended by the manufacturer, which said it should be used only in commercial warehouses not homes.

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