A three-year-old boy whose parents ‘secretly’ buried him behind their home was ‘dreadfully neglected’, a court has heard.
Abiyah Yasharahyalah’s skeleton was found in December 2022 in a garden at an address in Birmingham where his parents Tai and Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah, 42 and 43, had lived previously.
It showed signs of severe malnutrition, broken bones, rickets, anaemia, stunted growth, bone deformities and dental disease.
Prosecutors say Abiyah died in late 2019 or early 2020 after his parents put themselves and the boy into a ‘state of chronic malnutrition’.
They were said to have ‘rejected society’ some time after 2016 and moved into a caravan, where they kept themselves and Abiyah on an ultra-strict vegan diet.
They rejected any food which was processed or ‘fortified’ with vitamins and minerals, which includes baby formula and many staples such as wheat flour.
Jurors were told they ‘rejected the welfare state’ and refused benefits while plunging themselves into ‘poverty, isolation and ill-health’.
They were accused of refusing to seek medical help for Abiyah because of their ‘zealous’ beliefs and the knowledge that it might raise alarms about their alleged neglect.
Abiyah’s parents claim the boy died after catching a cold or flu, which he tried to treat with raw ginger and garlic.
Mr Yasharahyalah told the court he found his son lifeless on his chest after the family fell asleep together, and attempted CPR before realising ‘his physical form had gone’.
He insisted Abiyah had showed no signs ‘at all’ of being unwell before the sudden illness.
The couple say they then kept Abiyah’s body in their home for eight days with a parrafin lamp next to it because they believed Abiyah’s spirit might wish to return to his body.
They claimed they didn’t call 999 when they realised he was dead because they believed strangers could have scared his spirit away.
After eight days the couple embalmed him with frankincense and myrrh and buried him in the garden in order to follow a ritual that would allow him to be reincarnated, they told the court.
Mr Yasharahyalah, who was born in London but spent most of his childhood in Nigeria, claimed this was in accordance with the beliefs of Nigeria’s Igbo culture.
Prosecutors on Monday said: ‘Poverty, isolation and ill-health were the results of the defendants’ conscious decisions.
‘How easy it would have been to seek medical assistance and how easy it could have been to obtain extra food.’
Mr Hankin reminded the jury that in her police interview Naiyahmi had said: “Nature has a way of doing things. That’s the way things are meant to be. We might be getting in the way of nature.’
The barrister retorted: ‘That’s their attitude. We are right and nature will decide. It’s breathtaking arrogance and cruelty.’
‘Motivated by their belief system and a desire to avoid unwanted attention that might lead to investigation into misconduct, the defendants were prepared to allow their child to suffer the consequences of inadequate nutrition and a lack of medical and dental care.’
The couple did not register Abiyah’s death and informed neither the authorities nor any other family members, the court heard.
They deny causing or allowing the death of a child, child cruelty and perverting the course of justice.
The trial continues.
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