In 2021, Jesmin Akter, 34, used a lethal dose of aluminum phosphide she had brought in on a flight from Italy to treat an infestation in her east London apartment. She neglected to read the label before doing so.
Ms. Akter removed her own family from the Nida House, Tower Hamlets, premises for a whole day after dispersing the toxic material across it.
The material, which she subsequently acknowledged her mother had carried to Italy from Bangladesh, combined with moisture to produce the deadly gas phosphine, which has been compared to chemical warfare agents.
It leaked into nearby apartments, killing 11-year-old Fatiha Sabrin and sending another little kid to the hospital on December 11 of that same year.
At the Old Bailey, Akter acknowledged importing a controlled narcotic and committing an illegal act, which resulted in his manslaughter. He was sentenced to two years in prison, a two-year suspension, and 150 hours of unpaid labor.
The landlord’s attempts to address the bedbug issue in the apartment building were deemed insufficient by Judge Alexia Durran.
