Neighbor Accused of Killing 11-Year-Old Girl with Illegal Bedbug Cure Facing Trial

Fatiha Sabrin, 11, went into cardiac arrest and later died in the hospital

An 11-year-old girl died after a neighbor allegedly used an illegal bedbug cure to tackle the pests in a nearby apartment in London.

According to U.K. newspaper The Times, Fatiha Sabrin died in December 2021 after the neighbor allegedly used an illegally imported poisonous substance to kill bedbugs in her apartment, and the dangerous gas phosphine seeped from her apartment into Fatiha’s.

Her neighbor, Jesmin Akter, 33, was charged with manslaughter and importing a regulated substance following the incident, per The Times. Akter denied the charges during a hearing at the Old Bailey in London on Jan. 12.

Akter is accused of importing the substance from Italy without a license in November 2021, per The Times. The aluminum phosphide is alleged to have been activated by moisture to create the gas phosphine, which traveled to Fatiha’s apartment above.

According to a press release from the British Pest Control Association, Akter is accused of using “three times the recommended amount of aluminium phosphide pellets to treat bed bugs in her flat,” which was below Fatiha’s family's home.

During an earlier court appearance, district judge Jane McIvor heard how Akter had evacuated herself and her family from the building that night, as reported by U.K. newspaper The Telegraph,

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Thames Magistrates Court also previously heard how Fatiha went into cardiac arrest on Dec. 11, 2021 and later died in the hospital.

Akter is next due to appear in court on Apr. 19 and a three-week trial is set to begin on Jul. 1, per the outlet. 

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