Parents guilty over death of son, 3, whose body they buried in Birmingham back garden
A couple have been found guilty of causing or allowing the death of their three-year-old son, whose body they buried in a shallow grave in their back garden.
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Tai and Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah, 42 and 43, were also convicted of child cruelty and perverting the course of justice.
Abiyah Yasharahyalah died after a respiratory illness while suffering from fractures, severe malnutrition, rickets, anaemia, stunted growth and severe dental decay.
Abiyah’s remains weren’t found for more than two years. Pic: West Midlands Police
Jurors were told his parents shunned mainstream society as they set up their own “kingdom”, and were motivated by a belief system including a restrictive vegan diet.
Prosecutors said it would have been obvious Abiyah was in considerable pain and neither parent could explain why they didn’t get help.
The court heard they kept his body in their bed for eight days after he died at the start of the pandemic in early 2020.
They then “embalmed” him and put him in an 80cm-deep grave in their garden in Handsworth, Birmingham. He wasn’t found for more than two years.
The boy was buried in a shallow grave in the garden. Pic: West Midlands Police
“Neither of them is stupid. They were zealous in their beliefs,” prosecutor Jonas Hankin KC told Coventry Crown Court.
He added: “One parent could not have secretly buried Abiyah’s body in the garden without the support of the other. Each played a part in burying Abiyah or agreeing to his being buried.”
Abiyah had six fractures to his arm, legs and ribs, according to examination of his skeletal remains.
However, his exact cause of death could not be identified due to the state of the body.
A sign on the couple’s door in Handsworth before their eviction in March 2022
The couple were arrested on 9 December 2022 while living in a caravan in Glastonbury and Abiyah was finally found five days later.
A two-month trial heard London-born Tai, a medical genetics graduate, had carried out an “eight-day ritual” in the hope his dead son would “come back”.
Defence lawyers argued the couple buried Abiyah in the hope he might be “born again”, rather than to hide the death.
“They genuinely believed they were doing the right thing. They genuinely believed that their diet and the belief in natural and holistic medicines was the best way,” Bernard Tetlow KC told the trial.
The kitchen of the couple’s house before they were evicted
The couple are said to have “invented” a belief system featuring aspects of Nigerian Igbo culture that Tai adapted to form a system he called “slick law”.
They told police they had renounced British citizenship and lived an “off-grid” existence – at one point even living in a shipping container.
The court heard officers visited the Birmingham house three times – in February 2018 when Abiyah was alive, in September 2021 after his death, and in March 2022 to help evict the pair.
On the second occasion, Tai became aggressive and was arrested for being disruptive after officers asked if a child lived at the property.
However, a welfare check did not identify Abiyah as being missing due to confusion over records related to the address.
A child safeguarding practice review is ongoing into the case.
Naiyahmi and Tai Yasharahyalah arriving at court on 28 November Pic: PA
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Tai and Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah denied the charges and claimed they thought their son would recover from his poor health.
Despite studying a medical-based degree, Tai also claimed to have been unaware of the risks of a strict unsupplemented vegan diet.
But after 21 hours of deliberations, the jury today unanimously convicted the pair. They will be sentenced next Thursday.
Speaking after the verdicts, Detective Inspector Joe Davenport said Tai was “a very arrogant man, a fantasist, and someone who looked to manipulate people”.
He said Naiyahmi “was incredibly weak-minded” to put her devotion to her husband ahead of her own child.
An amber warning has been issued for snow in a part of the UK, likely to cause travel delays and “stranding some vehicles and passengers”.
The warning, which covers south west England, also warns some rural communities could become cut off and is in place until 2pm this evening.
Pic: Met Office
There is also a yellow weather warning for snow covering the southern counties of England until midnight on Wednesday.
The warning stretches from Kent to Cornwall and up to south London and the Met Office said between 2cm and 5cm of snow could accumulate fairly widely, with as much as 10cm over higher ground.
This week is expected to see the coldest nights of the year, with temperatures potentially reaching -14C on Wednesday night and -16C on Thursday night, both in the North East of England and Scotland, the Met Office said.
Weather warnings issued on Tuesday for snow and ice covering the parts of Wales, the North West of England, west and northern parts of Scotland as well as Northern Ireland will remain in place until midnight tomorrow.
The forecaster said some roads and railways are likely to be affected and there could be icy patches on untreated roads.
Pics: AP
Meanwhile the Environment Agency has said at least 300 properties have flooded across England since New Year’s Eve. It estimates more than 41,000 properties have been protected.
Heavy rainfall over the New Year caused significant river and surface water flooding across the North West of England and Yorkshire and snowmelt has brought further disruption to parts of England, particularly the Midlands, the agency said.
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Man says flooding ‘came out of nowhere’
Floods minister Emma Hardy said: “My sympathies go out to the people, businesses and communities impacted by the recent flooding across the country.
“I want to express my heartfelt thanks for the vital work that the Environment Agency and emergency services are doing to keep people safe. People must continue to follow their advice and sign up for flood warnings.”
Flood warnings
Some 100 flood warnings were in force across England on Wednesday, with people urged to remain vigilant over the coming days.
A danger-to-life warning was issued on Tuesday morning for the River Soar near Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire, but was later removed.
People living in caravan parks in the area were urged by the Environment Agency to act, with a large-scale evacuation needed to save lives.
Firefighters have rescued dozens of people across Leicestershire since Monday, Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service said.
Hundreds of schools were closed across the UK, with road and rail links blocked, as Manchester, Bristol and Liverpool John Lennon airports suspended flights because of the conditions.
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