A 45-year-old Kenyan man has been arrested in connection with the alleged poisoning of two children in Canada – killing one of them.
Francis Ngugi has been charged with administering a noxious substance to endanger life – and is likely to be kept away for a long time should he be found guilty.
Ngugi is alleged to have fed the two children cereal laced with poison.
One of the children was three-year-old Bernice Nantanda Wamala – and who later died.
The mother, Maurine Mirembe, and who is Ugandan, told CTV News that the two children had some form of reaction after consuming the cereal, leading to vomiting and, eventually, a hospital visit.
“Both children required hospitalization. One of the children, due to the consumption of the cereal, died in hospital. The other child recovered after a lengthy hospital stay,” Detective Matthew Wighton of 41 Division said in a statement on Monday.
Wamala died at the hospital while her other child survived, but remained in the hospital for a while.
According to the Toronto Sun, Ngugi is a former boyfriend of the surviving toddler’s mother.
The two reportedly broke up the month before the two girls were poisoned, but remained friends.
According to Toronto police, Ngugi accessed a controlled substance from his work and put it into a package of Golden Morn cereal, which the two girls took for breakfast on the morning of March 7 after their sleepover at the surviving child’s house.
Ngugi was arrested after it was established that the cereal the girls ate was deliberately contaminated following investigations by the police and the Ontario Coroner’s Office culminated in the arrest of
Police said that Ngugi used nitrite, which is used as a preservative in cured meats and other foods to poison the children. Nitrites can lead to methemoglobinemia, a condition in which the body is deprived of oxygen.
The mother started a GoFundMe to raise support for her daughter’s funeral, which has amassed more than double the Ksh2 million ($20,000).
“Losing a child under any circumstance is an unfathomable loss,” Toronto Paramedic Services said in a statement to the Star. “Toronto Paramedic Services is unable to comment on this specific 911 call due to patient privacy legislation.”