Girl, 11, dies on birthday after London neighbour uses bedbug poison | London

A woman has been given a suspended sentence for accidentally killing her toddler neighbour on his 11th birthday with a poison gas she brought from Italy to exterminate bedbugs in her London flat.

Jesmin Akter, 34, illegally imported aluminium phosphide without a licence to deal with an infestation at her flat in Tower Hamlets, east London.

She forgot to read the packaging before distributing a lethal amount around the property and taking her family outside for 24 hours.

The substance reacted with moisture, creating a toxic gas, phosphine, which has been compared to chemical warfare agents.

The virus infiltrated neighboring apartments at Nida House, killing Fatiha Sabrin on her 11th birthday and hospitalizing another young child on December 11, 2021.

Akter admitted to involuntary manslaughter by committing an unlawful act and importing a controlled substance.

On Thursday, she was sentenced to a two-year suspended prison sentence and 150 hours of unpaid work.

Old Bailey judge Alexia Durran noted that there had been a bedbug problem in the defendant’s apartment building.

She said: “The owner has taken some steps but they appear to have been rather superficial and the staff used to carry out fumigation in the past do not appear to have been well trained or not trained at all.”

Akter’s decision to address the problem by carrying aluminium phosphide on a passenger flight from Italy could have caused a “catastrophic aviation incident and put hundreds of lives at risk” if the packaging had been damaged, the judge said.

Within a “relatively short time” of the mother-of-two distributing the tablets in her flat, other occupants of the building, including children, began to feel unwell, the court heard.

The judge referred to a statement from Fatiha’s “heartbroken” father, Mohammed Islam.

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

The judge said: “Fatiha died on her 11th birthday. It is now a date that haunts her family.

“The punishment I will 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 that you are burdened by a crippling sense of guilt.

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

“A young life full of promise has been lost.”

The court heard that Akter initially told police she had bought the substance in a shop but later admitted her mother had brought it to Italy from Bangladesh.

After scattering pellets around his apartment to combat a bedbug problem, the toxic gas, phosphine, he created then leaked into other apartments, prosecutor James Dawes KC said.

He said the levels of phosphine gas that leaked into Fatiha’s house were estimated to be between two and a half and 26 times the known lethal dose.

Fatiha woke up at 4 a.m. on December 11 and complained to her mother, Kaniz, that she needed to go to the bathroom and was vomiting.

His mother called her GP and the 111 helpline before calling 999 at 9.30am.

At first, the paramedics advised Fatiha to take medication for diarrhea and eat simple foods.

London Fire Brigade checked for CO₂ poisoning but found nothing, the court heard.

At 1:30 p.m., emergency services were called again as Fatiha’s condition deteriorated. Paramedics found that she had stopped breathing and had fallen unconscious at 3:30 p.m. She died in hospital shortly before 5 p.m.

Firefighters declared a hazardous materials incident and further testing identified the poison.

Dawes said: “Given that the initial response by London Ambulance and Fire Brigade was without full protective gear, there were also concerns at the time.”

In a statement, Akter said he obtained the “bedbug repellent” product on the advice of his family but did not read the packaging.

She said she “did not know the product contained a dangerous poison”, saying she was “desperate after the owner tried and failed to get rid of the infestation”.

Akter apologized to Fatiha’s family who “paid the price” for his actions.