A couple has been jailed after causing the death of their three-year-old son through severe neglect.
Tai Yasharahyalah, 42, and Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah, 43, were sentenced at Coventry Crown Court today, receiving 24-and-a-half years and 19-and-a-half years respectively.
The pair were found guilty of what prosecutors described as “breathtaking” neglect and perverting the course of justice after burying their son Abiyah’s body in their garden.
Tai and Naiyahmi shunned mainstream society, lived “off grid”, held extreme vegan beliefs and created their own “kingdom” which involved an unsupplemented vegan diet and their own legal and belief system that drew from New Age mysticism and West African religion.
Their diet consisted mainly of nuts, raisins and soya milk, with both parents described as “extremely thin” when arrested.
Abiyah died in early 2020 from a respiratory illness after his parents refused to give him medical treatment.
Tai Yasharahyalah
PA/West Midlands Police
Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah
PA/West Midlands Police
Instead of seeking NHS treatment during Abiyah’s final illness, they attempted to treat him with garlic and ginger.
The pair denied acting wilfully, telling the court they believed Abiyah would recover from what they thought was a flu-like condition.
After Abiyah’s death, his parents kept his body in their bed for eight days while performing rituals.
Tai, a former fitness instructor, told police he conducted an “eight-day ritual” hoping his son would “come back”.
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Abiyah Yasharahyalah was found buried in the couple’s garden
PA
The couple then “embalmed” and buried the toddler in an 80cm-deep grave at their Handsworth home.
A post-mortem examination revealed Abiyah’s remains were “skeletal”, with signs of rickets, anaemia and stunted growth.
The three-year-old had also suffered severe dental decay and had six fractures to his right arm, legs and ribs, possibly from a fall weeks before his death.
An exact cause of death could not be determined.
Abiyah Yasharahyalah with his father Tai Yasharahyalah
PA
The couple, who married in 2015, had changed their names from Donald Nnah and Donna Graham after forming what they viewed as their own religion.
Tai, a medical genetics graduate who also used the name Tai-Zamarai, and Naiyahmi, a former shop worker, lived an unconventional lifestyle.
Police visited their property three times between 2018 and 2022, including once to assist with their removal for non-payment of rent.
The pair were finally arrested in December 2022 while living in a caravan in Glastonbury, Somerset, having previously spent time living in a shipping container.
Naiyahmi (left) and Tai Yasharahyalah outside Coventry Crown Court
PA
The rear garden of a property in Clarence Road, Handsworth, Birmingham, where the skeletal remains of three-year-old Abiyah Yasharahyalah were found in December 2022, nearly three years after he died while suffering severe malnutrition and rickets caused by his parents’ neglect
Wat Midlands Police/PA
Prosecutor Jonas Hankin KC told the court the couple had jointly neglected Abiyah by failing to provide adequate food or medical assistance.
During his closing speech, Hankin highlighted the severity of Abiyah’s dental problems, saying it would have been obvious to both parents that their son was in considerable pain.
Referring to Naiyahmi’s comment that “nature has a way of doing things”, Hankin said: “That is their attitude, ‘we’re right and nature will decide’. It is breathtaking arrogance and cruelty.”
The prosecutor noted that such severe malnutrition was simply not seen in the UK, with the defendants having driven themselves and their son into conditions more commonly seen in developing countries.