A woman who accidentally killed her 11-year-old neighbour with poisonous gas while trying to get rid of bedbugs has walked free from court.
Jesmin Akter, 34, had illegally imported aluminium phosphide from Italy to deal with an infestation in her flat in Nida House, in Tower Hamlets, in east London.
The mum-of-two failed to read the packaging before scattering a deadly amount around the flat and taking her family out for 24 hours.
It reacted with moisture creating the poisonous gas phosphine – considered ‘on a par with chemical warfare agents’ – which seeped into a neighbouring flat, killing Fatiha Sabrin on her 11th birthday.
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 plus 150 hours of unpaid work at the Old Bailey on Thursday.
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.
‘You didn’t know how much of the substance you should use but used more than you though you ought to use to ensure the infestation was dealt with.’
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’.
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 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.’
Akter imported the aluminium phosphide from Italy without a licence on November 26, 2021.
Initially, she told police that she had bought the substance in a shop but later admitted her mother had brought it to Italy from Bangladesh.
Having scattered pellets around her flat to tackle a bedbug problem, the toxic gas phosphine it created then escaped into other flats, prosecutor James Dawes KC said.
He said the levels of phosphine gas which escaped into the Fatiha’s home was estimated as being between two-and-a-half and 26 times the known lethal dose.
Fatiha woke at 4am on the morning of December 11 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 9.30am.
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.
Meanwhile, other residents started coughing raising fears of Covid.
At 1.30pm, emergency services were called again as Fatiha’s condition deteriorated.
Paramedics found she had stopped breathing and fallen unconscious at 3.30pm and she died in hospital just before 5pm.
The fire brigade declared a hazardous materials incident and further checks identified the poison.
Mr Dawes said: ‘Because the first attendance of London Ambulance and Fire Brigade had been done without full protective equipment, there was concern at the time as well.’
The prosecutor said phosphine was considered ‘on a par with chemical warfare agents’ and children were particularly vulnerable to exposure.
On entering the defendant’s flat, firefighters discovered grey powdery residue on surfaces and in the sink.
The quantity used by Akter was nearly three times the amount recommended by the manufacturer in commercial warehouses and was not for use in dwellings.
On the defendant’s explanation, Mr Dawes said: ‘She used it in order to eliminate bed bugs she feared were in her flat.
‘She stated she did not know there would be a risk of danger to her neighbours by using aluminium phosphide.
‘She did, having put out the poison, take her family out of her flat for 24 hours.’
Mr Dawes said the defendant had expressed ‘deep remorse’ and attempted to help the victim not knowing she had caused her illness.
In a handwritten statement, Akter said she obtained the ‘anti-bedbug’ product on the advice of her family but did not read the packaging.
She said she ‘did not know the produced contained a dangerous poison’, saying she was ‘desperate after the landlord tried and failed to get rid of the infestation’.
Akter apologised to Fatiha’s family who had ‘paid the price’ for her actions.
The court was told Nida House was owned and managed by Nabiganj Investment Company Ltd, a family firm which owns 160 properties.
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