Reclusive parents buried toddler in their garden after failing to seek medical help

A reclusive couple who buried their three-year-old son's body in their back garden after failing to seek medical help when he became ill have been found guilty of causing or allowing his death. Abiyah Yasharahyalah's skeletal remains were discovered by the police in December 2022 at his parents’ home in Handsworth, Birmingham.

- HOLLY EVANS

He had suffered from inadequate nutrition and was denied medical assistance despite being in “considerable pain”. A trial at Coventry Crown Court was told that Abiyah died of a respiratory illness at a time when he was suffering from bone fractures, severe malnutrition, rickets, anaemia, stunted growth and severe dental decay.

Evidence from examinations of his remains showed he had suffered five broken bones, including a fractured arm which led to a “false joint”, and rib fractures. His parents, Tai and Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah, 42 and 43, were motivated by a belief system that includes a restrictive vegan diet and a desire to avoid unwanted attention, and had established their own “kingdom”, the prosecution said.

A two-month trial was told the London-born Tai, a medical genetics graduate who also used the first name Tai-Zamarai, and Naiyahmi, a former shop worker, shunned mainstream society and were eventually arrested in December 2022 while living in a caravan in Somerset. Police visited the property on Clarence Road in Handsworth three times – in February 2018 when Abiyah was alive, again in September 2021 after his death, and then in March 2022 to assist in the couple’s eviction for nonpayment of rent.