'Desperate' woman spared jail after deadly gas used for bedbug infestation kills 11-year-old girl
18 July 2024, 18:54 | Updated: 18 July 2024, 18:56
A woman has been spared jail after accidentally killing a neighbour’s daughter using illegally-imported poisonous gas used to exterminate bedbugs as she celebrated her 11th birthday.
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Jesmin Akter, 34, used the poison which included a fatal amount of aluminium phosphide after bringing it to the UK on a flight from Italy to deal with an infestation in her east London flat.
After spreading the gas across her home in Tower Hamlets, London, Akter took her two children out for 24 hours.
The substance, which Akter has admitted was brought to Europe from Bangladesh by her mother, reacted with moisture creating the deadly gas phosphine.
The toxic gas, which has been compared to substances used in chemical warfare, quickly spread to neighbouring flats, killing Fatiha Sabrin on her 11th birthday and hospitalising another child.
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Appearing at the Old Bailey, Akter admitted to 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.
Judge Alexia Durran noted flat’s landlord had made inadequate efforts to combat the bedbugs but said Akter could have caused a "catastrophic mid-air incident and put hundreds of lives at risk."
Paying tribute to his daughter, Fatiha’s father, Mohammed Islam, hailed her as an "amazing, intelligent child who made friends with everyone and was a great help to her mother".
The judge added: "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."
Noting Akter's good character the judge said: "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."
Writing in a hand-written note, Akter said she "did not know the produced contained a dangerous poison", adding she was "desperate after the landlord tried and failed to get rid of the infestation."
