Man convicted of fatally poisoning Toronto toddler's breakfast cereal sentenced to life in prison

Toronto resident Francis Ngugi has been sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole for 17 years, after pleading guilty to the fatal poisoning of a Scarborough toddler's breakfast cereal in 2021.

Toronto resident Francis Ngugi has been sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole for 17 years, after pleading guilty to the fatal poisoning of a Toronto toddler's breakfast cereal in 2021.

Ngugi, 47, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of three-year-old Bernice Natanda Wamala at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto in September. He also entered a guilty plea to one charge of attempted murder.

Bernice died on March 7, 2021 after ingesting sodium nitrite while sleeping over at a friend's house the night prior. According to an agreed statement of facts, the children weren't Ngugi's intended target. Instead, the man poisoned the cereal in a failed attempt on the life of Zahra Issa, the friend's mother, whom he'd become increasingly fixated on in the months prior.

The decision was handed down by Justice Maureen Forestell at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto on Thursday.

“It is important to remember Bernice. She was a joyful child [...] she was an innocent child and she died in a terrible and terrifying manner,” Forestell told the court, noting that the period of parole eligibility decided upon “is not a value of Bernice’s life.”

“There is no sentence I could impose that would ever compensate for the loss of this child,” she said.

As part of his sentence, Ngugi is prohibited from owning weapons for life, may not make direct or indirect contact with Zahra Issa or any of her immediate family members, and may not communicate with Maurine Mirembe, Bernice’s mother, without her explicit consent. He may not communicate with anyone in Mirembe’s family