Dancing with meat cleavers, dedicated to an excessive fictional faith and Covid conspiracies whereas residing off the grid: The two university-educated mother and father who starved their son and buried him in backyard

When Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah was arrested, she was so thin and frail she had to be taken by wheelchair to the waiting police car. Weighing just under six stone, her bones were clearly visible through her clothing and she couldn’t stand without support.

Her husband Tai was similarly skeletal and was observed ‘shuffling’ rather than walking due to mobility issues. The reason for their harrowing appearance? An obsession with ‘clean’ eating. 

Strict vegans, they had cut out all sugars and processed food, surviving on only fruit, nuts and seeds, and had chosen to reject Western medicine in favour of herbs and superstition.

The zealots – who were also disciples of their own, largely made-up religion and laws after falling into a ‘spiral of conspiracy’ – both ended up needing hospital treatment for malnutrition. 

But the consequences for their young son Abiyah were far worse: the tragic little boy died bed-bound from cold, so malnourished that his immune system was not working before the Yasharahyalahs – convinced he would be reincarnated – buried him in the back garden of their rented Birmingham terrace.

The husband and wife are now facing jail after a jury found them guilty of child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child. They were also convicted of perverting the course of justice by concealing his death following a 10-week trial at Coventry Crown Court.

The Yasharahyalahs had claimed their son had died sometime between December 2019 and January 2020 when he was aged around three years and eight months after suffering a respiratory infection which they were ‘attacking’ with ginger and garlic.

They then lay with his body for eight days before embalming him and burying him in their garden under two feet of earth.

Abiyah’s death went unnoticed – he had been hidden away almost his whole life – and when his remains were finally exhumed by police two years later, experts found he had rickets and anaemia; as well as stunted growth as a result of his restricted diet. 

His teeth were also decayed and falling out and he had five fractures which would have caused him considerable pain.

Forensic experts were unable to determine his cause of death due to decomposition but could see from his bones that he was severely malnourished, which prosecutors said would have dramatically increased his susceptibility to infections such as pneumonia and meningitis.

Described in court as ‘very bright’ the couple, both born in the UK and degree educated, claimed to have been unaware their child was seriously ill. But prosecutors said it would have been obvious he was suffering – accusing the couple of ‘breathtaking arrogance and cruelty’ for failing give him adequate food or summon medical help.

Jonas Hankin, prosecuting, told jurors that while the couple were ‘free to behave in a way that damaged their own health’, they owed Abiyah an ‘overriding duty of care’.

Tai, 42, who describes himself as a life coach and music producer and who incredibly released a book on nutrition on Amazon while awaiting trial, was bought to tears as jurors were told Abiyah had the worst condition of bones seen by the experts. 

Mr Hankin said: ‘People in the developed world do not starve so how was it that you and your family came to be living in Third World conditions in the UK?’

Tai, dressed in a cream cotton shirt, waistcoat, smart, olive coloured trousers and patent shoes, said he did not starve his family but admitted: ‘My parenting was awful to say the least.’

His wife, 43, who attended each day of her trial in a white fur coat, had made her own deodorant and thought fluoride was added to the water as a form of mind control, told the court: ‘I can see now that what I was doing was not benefiting my family’.

Mr Hankin said neither of them were ‘stupid’ but they were ‘zealous in their beliefs.’

Jurors were told that Tai, whose father was a former Nigerian government official, was studying for a degree in medical genetics at Queen Mary College, University of London when he fell into a ‘spiral of conspiracy’ spending much of his time researching on the internet. 

He later became vegan and started researching Igbo culture – the customs of a group living in southeastern Nigeria when he said led to ‘another spiral of resentment’.

He also became deeply distrusting of the state, telling how he believed embryos were being used for anti-ageing creams and was ‘skeptical of the intentions of the medical establishment’.

The couple met at an open mic night in Birmingham where Naiyahmi – who has a degree in Applied Theatre from Birmingham City University – was performing. At the time she was working as a manager at River Island in the city.

They married in 2015 when both wore white and changed their names from Donald Nnah and Donna Rowe after starting to follow their own religion. 

They ‘lived increasingly unconventionally, styling themselves as sovereign and indigenous members of the Kingdom of Yasharahyalah’, with Naiyahmi calling her husband ‘King’.

The court heard they did not work, relying largely upon the charity of others and £80 a month they made from their bizarre music videos, one of which shows them dressed as warriors dancing around yielding meat cleavers. 

They did not consider themselves to be ‘contracted’ to the State having claimed to have renounced their citizenship.

Abiyah was born in April 2016 and his birth was registered but Naiyahmi went on to disengage from healthcare services, refusing vaccinations and missing health visitor appointments and Abiyah was not seen again by medical professionals after June 2016.

Their beliefs appeared to harden during Covid, which Tai said he feared was ‘a biological weapon targeted at a specific demographic’ adding: ‘I did not want my son to be a lab rat’ when explaining why they didn’t seek medical help. 

Tai said he thought that Abiyah’s death was one of the first Covid-19 deaths because he had been unwell with a chest infection. He said he woke to find him not breathing and tried CPR but knew he was dead. 

Tai said keeping the body for eight days was ‘part of our culture’. He told officers: ‘I was still seeing if there was any way that we could bring him back so we were praying, we lit his lamp … [so he could] find his way back home … but he didn’t come back.’

He said he then went to garden, dug a hole and embalmed his body with frankincense and myrrh.

Tai – who could not recall if the burial was during the day or at night – said there was no one else present because their ‘aim was to make sure he comes back according to our culture … because he hasn’t finished his assignment.’ 

The couple said they had not registered his death as they were no longer citizens anymore and chose the garden as that is where Abiyah used to play.

The couple continued living at the property, with Tai putting a notice on the door banning anyone from ‘making contact with any member of this house’.

The court heard there was a missed opportunity to uncover Abiyah’s body there in September 2021, when police officers visited the couple’s for a ‘safe and well’.

Bodycam footage shows Tai’s angry reaction as he shouts at officers and tells them he and his wife are ‘sovereign citizens’ unwilling to comply with the law.

There was no milk or bread in the fridge, police said, while an officer noticed coconuts were the only available sustenance. When he was asked where Abiyah was Tai told police it was ‘not your business’.

The couple were later evicted from their house over unpaid rent and moved first to a shipping container and before moving into a caravan at an ‘off grid’ site in Glastonbury.

Pictures show the dirty, cramped conditions, with cupboards overflowing and clothes strewn all over, as well as two buckets on the floor – one of which contained frozen urine. 

The other was empty but contained the remnants of faeces and sawdust. The small amount of carpet on the floor was saturated with urine.

When asked about their diet in the caravan, Naiyahmi said they ate potato, bread and vegetables, kale, broccoli, avocado, tomatoes, crackers, honey, potatoes and sweet potatoes. 

She told police in interview they also ate ‘sauces and mustard as well, and lots of pear … apples … one time we had lettuce, so it just depended on what he brought back [from Aldi] at the time.’

Abiyah remains were only discovered in December 2022 when authorities in another county examined the couple’s social media accounts and found videos showing a toddler and asked the couple where the boy was.

When first asked asked about the boy Naiyahmi said, ‘Oh shit’ before refusing to provide any information

Tai eventually told investigators he was dead.

A forensic archaeological examination of the garden at their former home was launched on December 12 2022 and Abiyah’s wrapped remains were found two days later.

Naiyahmi was described as ‘skeletal’, struggled to stand and had to be taken to the police car in a wheelchair after her arrest in December 2022. In custody, she was observed struggling to stand up from a seated position.

Both were sufficiently unwell that they required treatment in hospitals. Naiyahmi reported eating mainly nuts, raisins and some soya milk and had a BMI of just 14.9 – well below the healthy range for a woman.

Charles Sherrard KC, representing Naiyahmi, said the case was ‘beyond sad and depressing’ but said Naiyahmi was well-intentioned and loving. 

Bernard Tetlow KC, representing the boy’s father, said he ‘genuinely believed’ that their diet and the belief in natural and holistic medicines was the best way.

They will be sentenced next month.