A mother-of-two has been spared prison after accidentally killing her neighbour’s daughter on her 11th birthday with illegally imported poison gas she used to exterminate bedbugs.
Jesmin Akter, 34, didn’t read the packaging before using a deadly amount of aluminum phosphide she had brought on a flight from Italy to deal with an infestation in her east London flat in 2021.
After spreading the poisonous substance around the property in Nida House, Tower Hamlets, Mrs Akter took her own family out for 24 hours.
The substance, which she later admitted was brought to Italy from Bangladesh by her mother, reacted with moisture to create the poisonous gas phosphine, which has been compared to chemical warfare agents.
He infiltrated neighboring apartments, killing Fatiha Sabrin on her 11th birthday and causing another child to be taken to hospital on December 11 of that year.
Akter hid the substance in a drawer. Photo: CPS/PA
Akter admitted manslaughter at the Old Bailey by committing an unlawful act and importing a controlled substance and was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for two years plus 150 hours of unpaid work.
Judge Alexia Durran noted that there was a problem with bedbugs in the apartment building and that the owner’s efforts to deal with the problem were inadequate.
The remains of Aluminum Phosphide fumigation tablets in the living room. Photo: CPS/PA
But by smuggling aluminum phosphide onto a passenger flight from Italy the previous month, Akter could have caused a “catastrophic aviation incident and put hundreds of lives at risk,” she said.
Within a “relatively short period” after Akter distributed the pills in her apartment, other occupants, including children in the block, began to feel unwell, she said.
Remains of Aluminum Phosphide fumigation tablets in the bathroom. Photo: CPS/PA
The judge referred to a moving statement from Fatiha’s “heartbroken” father, Mohammed Islam, who called his daughter “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 sentence I impose will not bring Fatiha back and will seem inappropriate to Fatiha’s family.”
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The judge noted Akter’s previous good character and told her: “I understand that you are burdened with crippling guilt.
“It seems highly unlikely that you will forget that what happened to Fatiha was the result of your actions. A young life full of promise was lost.”
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In a handwritten statement, Akter said he obtained the “anti-bed bug” product on the advice of his family but did not read the packaging.
She said she “didn’t know the product contained a dangerous poison,” saying she was “desperate after the owner tried and failed to get rid of the infestation.”
She apologized to Fatiha’s family, who “paid the price” for her actions.
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