A vegan couple were today found guilty of causing or allowing the death of their severely malnourished three-year-old son before burying his body in their back garden.
Tai, 42, and Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah, 43, subjected Abiyah to ‘breathtaking arrogance and cruelty’ by failing to summon medical help or give him adequate food.
Coventry Crown Court heard Abiyah’s skeletal remains were discovered in December 2022 in the garden of the couple’s former home in Handsworth, Birmingham.
Abiyah died after a respiratory illness in January 2020, when he was suffering from bone fractures, rickets, anaemia, stunted growth and severe dental decay.
Jurors also convicted Tai and Naiyahmi of child cruelty by failing to provide adequate nutrition or summon medical care, and perverting the course of justice by burying Abiyah.
The couple were remanded in custody and will be sentenced next Thursday.
Trial judge Mr Justice Wall told Tai and Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah: “You have been found guilty by the jury of all counts.”
A custodial sentence will be passed on to the couple, the judge said, adding: “I will determine the length of that sentence at a hearing next Thursday. Until that time you are both remanded in custody.”
The judge also praised jurors – who deliberated for a total of 21 hours and 14 minutes – for the care they had taken in reaching their unanimous guilty verdicts.
Abiyah Yasharahyalah was subjected to ‘breathtaking arrogance and cruelty’ by his parents
Naiyahmi (left) and Tai Yasharahyalah (right) outside Coventry Crown Court on November 4
Tai (left) and Naiyahmi (right) were convicted of causing or allowing Abiyah’s death
Prosecutor Jonas Hankin KC previously told jurors it would have been obvious to both defendants that Abiyah was in considerable pain before his death.
Mr Hankin said of the defendants: ‘They had control over their own lives, they were responsible for their actions. At any time they could have made different decisions or reversed decisions whose consequences were obviously detrimental.’
Addressing jurors in the eighth week of the trial last week, Mr Hankin told the panel: ‘Consider how easy it would have been to seek medical assistance.’
Alleging that the Yasharahyalahs were motivated by a belief system including a restrictive vegan diet and a desire to avoid unwanted attention, that might lead to an investigation into their misconduct, Mr Hankin said they were prepared to allow their child to ‘suffer the consequences’ of inadequate nutrition and a lack of medical or dental care.
‘They acted together,’ he said. ‘They shared parental responsibility, they shared their belief system.
‘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.’
The Crown’s barrister also alleged that each parent had played a part in attempting to obstruct social services.
Abiyah’s skeletal remains were discovered by West Midlands Police in December 2022
When Abiyah fell ill with the symptoms of a cold, the couple treated him with natural remedies
Tai, 42, and Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah, 43, are pictured on their wedding day
The couple both claimed they did not act wilfully while providing inadequate nutrition, the court has heard, but Mr Hankin said their evidence had the ‘hallmarks of an unreliable witness’ including changes to their accounts of what happened.
‘You will have to assess the plausibility of their evidence,’ he told the jury.
Mr Hankin also said that the couple’s argument that Abiyah was symptom-free before his death other than a cold-like illness was ‘for the birds’.
Evidence from examinations of Abiyah’s skeletal remains, which were discovered by police in December 2022, showed he had suffered five broken bones, including a fractured arm, which led to a ‘false joint’, and rib fractures.
Mr Hankin continued: ‘He must have been in very considerable pain from the moment the injury was sustained and thereafter for several weeks.
‘Neither defendant was able to explain satisfactorily why the emergency services were not called.’
Both parents must have realised Abiyah was not getting enough nutrition and needed medical care, but chose not to provide it, it was alleged.
‘Neither of them is stupid,’ Mr Hankin said. ‘They were zealous in their beliefs.’
A sign on the front door banned anyone from ‘making contact with any member of this house’
Squalid conditions inside the Yasharahyalahs’ property in Handsworth, Birmingham
There was no milk or bread in the fridge at the couple’s house, West Midlands Police said
The interior of the property in Handsworth, Birmingham, where the Yasharahyalahs lived
A guitar balance on a radiator and a chair covered in junk at the Yasharahyalahs’ home
Police visited Tai Yasharahyalah at the property in Handsworth for a ‘safe and well’
An officer noticed coconuts were the only available sustenance at the property
The bathroom at the Yasharahyalahs’ property in Handsworth, Birmingham
A sewing machine at the property in Handsworth, Birmingham, which police visited
Bags on top of a mattress at the Yasharahyalahs’ property in Handsworth, Birmingham
Disengagement from society and social services had left Tai barely able to walk, and Naiyahmi able to stand but unable to walk, by the time they were interviewed by police, the court heard.
‘This child started life small but normal and over time he became abnormally small,’ Mr Hankin told the trial. ‘Those features must have been discernible to his parents if, as they claim, they were caring, loving and attentive.’
Referring to a comment made by Abiyah’s mother that ‘nature has a way of doing things’, Mr Hankin said: ‘That is their attitude ‘We’re right and nature will decide’.
‘It is breathtaking arrogance and cruelty,’ he added.
Bernard Tetlow KC, representing the boy’s father, said the central issue for the jury was whether the defendants had acted wilfully when they failed to provide enough nutrition and medical care.
Arguing against prosecution claims that the couple had ‘prioritised’ their beliefs, Mr Tetlow said: ‘Tai and Naiyahmi were not saying to themselves we realise our diet, we realise our healthcare is bad for us, but we are going to do it anyway.
A police photo of the back garden of the Birmingham home where the body was found
Coventry Crown Court heard Abiyah’s skeletal remains were discovered in December 2022
The grim discovery was made in the garden of the couple’s former home in Handsworth
The back garden of the home in Birmingham where the three-year-old’s body was found
Police outside the home on Clarence Road in Handsworth, Birmingham, in December 2022
The house on Clarence Road in Handsworth, Birmingham, where the body was found
‘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.
‘They may be morally blameworthy and culpable but that does make them criminally liable for what happened.’
When Abiyah fell ill with the symptoms of a cold in January 2020 the couple had treated him with natural remedies, including raw garlic and ‘various other pastes’, in what did not seem like an emergency at the time, Mr Tetlow said.
Charles Sherrard KC, representing former shop worker Naiyahmi, also addressed the jury with closing arguments.
After saying the emotions surrounding the case were ‘beyond sad and depressing’, Mr Sherrard urged jurors to return not guilty verdicts on all charges.
He said of his client, whom he claimed was well-intentioned and loving: ‘The notion that she had no regard for the welfare of her child is, in our submission, simply contrary to all of the evidence.’
Tai and Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah lived ‘off grid’ at this caravan in Glastonbury, Somerset
Pictures from West Midlands Police show the dirty, cramped conditions in the caravan
Cupboards were overflowing and clothes were strewn all over the couple’s caravan
Prosecutors said the caravan was cold, dirty, cramped and foul smelling
The court was told that the caravan in Glastonbury was ‘clearly not fit for habitation’
The small amount of carpet on the floor of the caravan was saturated with urine
There were two buckets on the caravan floor – one of which contained frozen urine
Knives and USB devices were among the items recovered by police from the caravan
Fruit and vegetables in the fridge and the oven in the caravan are pictured
The Yasharahyalahs lived ‘off grid’ at the site in Glastonbury after leaving Birmingham
One bucket in the caravan was empty but contained the remnants of faeces and sawdust
Pictures released by West Midlands Police show the dirty and cramped conditions
The couple lived ‘off grid’ at the site in Glastonbury after they were evicted from their home
A camera was discovered within the caravan where the couple were residing
An Apple Mac laptop and packaging from fast fashion brand Shein were also found
Former fitness instructor Tai told the trial he now accepts he was neglectful towards Abiyah but did not realise at the time that his son needed any medical care.
Naiyahmi also denied acting ‘wilfully’ in failing to summon medical help, claiming Abiyah’s body was buried in the hope he might be ‘born again’ and not in order to hide the death from the authorities.
She also maintained that she did not think about going to a doctor because she had ‘renounced her citizenship’ and was ‘not contracted to the state’.
Jurors in the case retired last Wednesday and were told not to feel under any pressure of time in reaching their conclusions.
After completing his summing up of the evidence in the case, trial judge Mr Justice Wall told them: ‘You are here to reach the right verdict and you will take as much or as little time as you need in order to do that.’