Woman charged with trying to poison Venezuelan actress

A woman accused of trying to poison a Venezuelan actress and the members of her family was arraigned, the Mexico City district attorney's office said.

Argentine national Marcia Celeste Fernandez Babio, 24, worked as an assistant to actress Gabriela Elena Spanic Utrera and over at least four months she administered to her and her family ammonium sulphate in both food and drink, the office said in a statement on Monday.

Fernandez was arrested on 19th August when she returned from a trip to Argentina. Gabriela told authorities that she hired Fernandez as a personal assistant in January and the woman moved into her house.

However, since April, Gabriela, her mother, son and the boy's nanny began to have "health problems like vertigo, vomiting, headaches and abdominal pains, shivering and generalised weakness", the DA's office said.

At the beginning of August, the accused asked Gabriela for permission to go to Argentina to visit her family, and she subsequently left the country.

Gabriela, her family members and the nanny continued experiencing health problems and went to a doctor, who, after performing various tests on them, concluded that there was a high level of ammonium in their blood caused by poisoning which, over the long term, could have proved fatal.

The actress "noticed that the only person who was not sick in the household was Fernandez Babio... and recalled that for some time the suspect had not eaten or drunk anything in the home", according to the statement.

Gabriela and her mother filed a complaint for attempted murder, which in turn allowed authorities to search the house, where they found two ampules containing ammonium sulphate in Fernandez's bedroom.

In addition, when the woman was arrested, police found two more ampules of the same toxic substance in her handbag.

Gabriela has acted in several soap operas, including Decisiones, Tierra de pasiones, La venganza and La intrusa.