A couple have been found guilty of causing or allowing the death of their three-year-old son, whose body they buried in a back garden.
Tai and Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah, 42 and 43, were also convicted of child cruelty, as well as perverting the course of justice.
Abiyah Yasharahyalah died after a respiratory illness while suffering from fractures, severe malnutrition, rickets, anaemia, stunted growth and severe dental decay, the trial heard.
Abiyah’s body was found in December 2020
Prosecutors said it would have been obvious Abiyah was in considerable pain before his death and neither parent could explain why they didn’t get help.
The court heard they kept his body in their bed for eight days after he died, before “embalming” him and putting him in an 80cm-deep grave in their garden in Handsworth, Birmingham.
Jurors were told the Yasharahyalahs were motivated by a belief system including a restrictive vegan diet and a desire to avoid unwanted attention and obstruct social services.
“Neither of them is stupid. They were zealous in their beliefs,” prosecutor Jonas Hankin KC told Coventry Crown Court.
He added: “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.”
Abiyah had suffered five broken bones, including a fractured arm and rib fractures, according to evidence from examinations of his skeletal remains.
His body was found in the garden in December 2020. The couple were eventually arrested two years later while living a a caravan in Somerset.
A two-month trial heard that London-born Tai, a medical genetics graduate, and former shop worker Naiyahmi shunned mainstream society.
They denied the charges, but after 21 hours of deliberations the jury unanimously convicted the pair. They will be sentenced next Thursday.
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