Girl, 11, who died after being gassed in bedbug poison case named in open justice victory
An 11-year-old girl who allegedly died after a neighbour used a poisonous substance to tackle bedbugs can been named in a victory for open justice.
Fatiha Sabrin died in hospital on December 11, 2021 after the dangerous gas phosphine seeped from a nearby flat, it is claimed.
At a hearing at the Old Bailey on Friday, Jesmin Akter, of Sutton Street, Tower Hamlets, east London, denied her manslaughter and importing a regulated substance.
It is alleged the 33-year-old defendant imported a regulated substance, namely aluminium phosphide, from Italy without a licence on November 26, 2021.
Akter is then accused of scattering pellets of the substance around her flat to tackle a bedbug problem rife in her block of flats.
The substance is then alleged to have activated by moisture to create the dangerous gas phosphine which travelled to the flat of an 11-year-old girl.
Until Wednesday, the child at the heart of the case could not be identified under an order made at Thames Magistrates’ Court last August 22.
At the time, reporters queried an order banning her identity being published under section 45 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999.
Despite informing the court that it did not have the power to make an order relating to a deceased child, the media was advised to raise it when the case was heard at the Old Bailey.
On Wednesday, Judge Simon Mayo KC addressed a joint written application by PA and the BBC to lift the order.
The media cited Judicial College guidelines that a child “must be alive” for the court to make a valid order.
It was also pointed out that the child had already been identified in earlier national newspaper reports.
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Judge Mayo thanked the media for the “helpful and very succinct” submissions.
He said the BBC and PA were “absolutely right” about the extent of the court’s power and he lifted the order.
While making clear he meant no criticism of the magistrate concerned, the judge said: “It is a pity the matter was not dealt with at that stage as these matters involve important principles of wider public importance.”
He went on to say that open justice was of “fundamental importance” and lay “very close to the heart” of the function of the courts within a democratic society.
At the plea hearing last week, the judge set a three-week trial from July 1 at the Old Bailey, with a further hearing on April 19.
Jesmin Akter allegedly scattered pellets of the substance around her flat to tackle a bedbug problem that was rife in her block of flats.
The aluminium phosphide is alleged to have been activated by moisture to create the dangerous gas phosphine which travelled to the flat of an 11-year-old girl.
The defendant has been granted bail ahead of her next court appearance.
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