Parents who forced ‘extreme’ vegan diet on toddler and buried his body in garden jailed
A couple have been jailed for causing or allowing the death of their three-year-old son after forcing him to endure an “extreme” vegan diet. Abiyah Yasharahyalah died from a respiratory illness while suffering from fractures, severe malnutrition, rickets, anaemia, stunted growth and severe dental decay. Jurors heard Tai and Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah, 42 and 43, kept the boy’s body in their bed for eight days, embalmed him and then buried him in a shallow grave in their garden in early 2020. He wasn’t found for more than two years. The jury was told the couple shunned mainstream society in favour of their own “kingdom” in Handsworth, Birmingham, and pushed a restrictive vegan diet. Prosecutors said it would have been obvious Abiyah was in considerable pain and neither parent could explain why they didn’t get help. The trial was told instead of contacting NHS the couple tried to treat their son’s final illness with garlic and ginger. The couple’s diet largely consisted of nuts, raisins and soya milk and they were both “extremely thin” when they were …
