The mother of a Scarborough toddler who died after consuming cereal laced with sodium nitrite in March 2021, called the man who poisoned her daughter “evil” and is demanding justice for her three-year-old daughter, Bernice Wamala.
At a sentencing hearing for 47-year-old Francis Ngugi who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in September, assistant crown attorney Kathleen Farrell read a letter written by Wamala’s mother, Maurine Mirembe, about how the death of her child has left her traumatized and unable to trust anyone. Mirembe, who sat quietly in the body of the courtroom, is pregnant.
“Why say sorry for something you did knowing that caused death? How can you be sorry unless you are evil? What did Bernice do to deserve death? What was in his mind when he was poisoning the baby food? Why would you do this for a woman who did not love you back? Why are people so evil?” wrote Mirembe in her victim impact statement.
On March 7, 2021, Bernice became violently ill and was rushed to hospital after eating Golden Morn cereal for breakfast. She later died after several seizures and two heart attacks.
Bernice’s mother had asked her close friend and neighbour, Zahra Issa, to babysit her the night before. Both families lived in an apartment building on Birchmount Rd. near St Clair Ave. Issa’s daughter, who also ate the cereal became seriously ill but survived. Bernice died from a lack of oxygen to her body’s cells.
According to the facts, Ngugi put sodium nitrite in the cereal and intended for Issa to become sick. Ngugi, who worked as a sanitation worker at Griffith Foods, knew that sodium nitrite was a toxic substance, and likely to cause Issa’s death. He also knew that Issa’s child lived the apartment.
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In the days prior to Bernice’s murder, the court heard that Ngugi asked Issa to marry him but she rejected him. Ngugi loved Issa, despite the fact she had a husband and older daughter living in Tanzania. Ngugi often went to Issa’s apartment in Scarborough and regularly asked her to engage with him and spend time together. Ngugi became obsessive in his love for Issa, who rebuffed his advances. He repeatedly became sullen and hostile when Issa did not return his affections.
In the five months leading up to the poisoning, Ngugi became fixated on Issa’s marriage and spied on her.
After the murder, Ngugi attended the Hospital for Sick Children, but said nothing about putting poison in the cereal and in the months that followed, continued to express his love for Issa and told her that her husband in Tanzania was being unfaithful.
Farrell told Justice Maureen Forestell who will decide on a period of parole eligibility between 10 and 25 years, that Ngugi acted in an “extremely callous, selfish and calculated fashion, requiring a sentence that cries out for denunciation and deterrence.”
Farrell told the court that Issa’s daughter was poisoned with the same chemical and she could have died too. “She had the fear of almost losing her child. She had to deal with the death of her best friend’s child under her care, when it was no fault of her own. She trusted the wrong person,” Farrell said.
The crown attorney also told the court that Ngugi admitted he stalked Issa online, collected documents and reported her husband falsely to immigration authorities, in an effort to prevent Issa’s husband from being reunited with his family.
“After the poisoning, he continued to show complete and callous disregard for members of this family even after Bernice’s death,” Farrell explained.
“As retaliation for Issa saying ‘no I don’t want to be with you, he enacted the ultimate punishment. He didn’t care whether two children might die so long as he got to the woman who rejected him. He was not concerned about her husband or even the other child she would leave behind, if she died.”
Defence lawyer Danielle Robitaille told the court Ngugi the 47-year-old refugee claimant will most certainly face deportation to Kenya upon completion of his sentence. Robitaille said her client who has no prior criminal record, identifies as a bisexual man and in Kenya, experienced regular persecution due to his sexual orientation. At one point, he was attacked and badly beaten.
The Crown and defence counsel have jointly suggested a period of parole ineligibility of 17 years.
Madam Justice Forestell has reserved her judgment until Friday.
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