THE heartbroken mother of toddler Bernice Wamala has spoken out after the sentencing of Francis Ngugi, the man accused of killing her daughter through poisoned cereal.

On the evening of March 6, 2021, the horrifying incident took place after the Toronto mom, Maurine Merimbe, had left three-year-old Bernice in the care of her friend, Zahra Issa.

While at Issa’s, the toddler was fed breakfast cereal that had been laced with poison, per Global News.

Bernice was rushed to the hospital and suffered several seizures and two heart attacks and died with Merimbe by her side.

Ngugi, 47, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the case in September and was sentenced to life behind bars with parole ineligibility for at least 17 years at a court hearing on Friday.

Madam Justice Maureen Forestell issued the sentencing after accepting the position stated by the Crown and the defense on Thursday.

Forestell noted that the killing of children demands a severe sentence that ensures “the objective of denunciation and deterrence,” according to Global News.

Ngugi could be seen in court on Friday with his head down in the prisoner’s box as the sentencing was delivered by Madam Justice Forestell.

After the hearing, Merimbe spoke with reporters about the events, noting Ngugi’s actions as “evil,” accusing him of not taking action when he could have after the poisoning of Bernice.

“I remember last time when we came here and he pled guilty,” the mom recalled.

“He was like, ‘Sorry, Maurine.’ Sorry for what? Because being sorry when you didn’t tell me why you’re sorry … I’m not going to say, like, ‘OK, you’re forgiven’ because you were in the hospital that day, the day Bernice passed on, and also you knew what you did.”

“It’s like you put the poison for this baby and you didn’t tell and you were in the hospital.”

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She continued: “So it’s like, he’s so evil because at least he could tell, he could explain to the hospital, ‘OK guys, I know what I did this, about the kids, please try to do something to save these kids.’”

The judge detailed the tragic sequence of events that led to the death of the toddler in court on Friday, detailing a complicated relationship between Ngugi and Merimbe’s friend, Issa.

Issa and Ngugi had been romantically involved but had been broken up for some time in March 2021 after Issa called it off.

Unbeknownst to Issa, who thought Ngugi and she had remained friends, her ex also began to stalk and record her movements, according to information disclosed to the court by Madam Justice Forestell.

“Ngugi, in the time leading up to the death, became obsessed with Zahra Issa, a woman with whom he had a dating relationship,” the judge noted.

“[Issa] rejected him, he stalked her, surreptitiously recorded her and continued to try to convince her to have a relationship…. She considered him a friend.”

Ngugi, a sanitation worker, then stole sodium nitrate and placed it in the cereal, allegedly intending to affect Issa and her daughter.

“[Bernice] was an innocent child who was robbed of her life. Not only that, she died in a terrible and no-doubt terrifying manner,” Forestell continued.

“He knew the sodium nitrite was likely to cause death. He knew the children were present. He was reckless in leaving the poison in the cereal.”

Issa’s daughter was taken to a different hospital the same evening in March 2021 and survived the poisoning.

Forestell noted that it was “aggravating” that Ngugi’s alleged intentions to punish Issa resulted in the death of Bernice.

The judge also determined that Ngugi failed to assist emergency responders after the children ingested the sodium nitrate.

Along with the life sentence, Madame Justice Forestell ruled that Ngugi be added to a national DNA databank, given a lifetime weapons ban, and could not have any future contact with Mirembe, Issa, or their families.

Merimbe noted after the court hearing that she wanted her daughter to be remembered as a “jolly girl.”