A toddler who was starved by his parents and buried in their garden was “invisible and lost” to child services, a review has said.
Three-year-old Abiyah Yasharahyalah, who lived with his parents in Birmingham, died in early 2020 from a respiratory illness.
He was severely malnourished when he died and had anaemia, rickets and stunted growth which, as well as the illness, were exacerbated by the “restricted” vegan diet he was given at home.
A local child safeguarding practice review, published on Wednesday, into Abiyah’s death found that a lack of questions asked about how the family’s lifestyle and culture could have had an impact on his health, stating “the safeguarding of children being affected by harmful cultural practice is paramount”.
The review also found that while the family had been subject to visits, they were sporadic and short, noting that Abiyah “was only ever seen by a small number of professionals during his lifetime, and for a limited time only”.
At the parents’ trial at Coventry crown court in December, jurors were told that after Abiyah’s death, his mother and father, Tai and Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah, performed an eight-day ritual in the hopes that their son would come back to life, before burying his body in the garden of their home in Handsworth in the centre of the city.
The court also heard that police had visited the family’s residence three times, including in February 2018 when Abiyah was alive, but that “no details were recorded” about the child, with his presence “almost invisible on review of records”.
The home was also visited by social workers on at least five occasions, but these were described as “very limited, reinforcing that there was very little insight into [Abiyah’s] existence, health or welfare”.
The review found that authorities coming into contact with the child’s family showed a “general lack of knowledge or assessment of the parents’ belief systems”, leading to an “insufficient understanding about the impact on his care”.
It added that his parents’ behaviour “often distracted or diverted professional attention” away from Abiyah’s safety and welfare and that “parental resistance of advice, support or authority ultimately resulted in [Abiyah] becoming invisible and lost from professional view”.
Annie Hudson, the chair of the child safeguarding practice review panel, said the report strongly evidenced “the paramount importance of understanding what life is like for children, and not being distracted or diverted away by parental behaviour when considering children’s safety and welfare”.
“It is important to respect parents’ faith and beliefs. However, as this review highlights, professionals must always be mindful of whether their views about parents, including their faith, race and culture, [are] inhibiting their capacity to be questioning and act together in a timely way to safeguard and protect children.”
Tai, 42, a medical genetics graduate, and Naiyahmi, 43, a former shop worker, left the body buried in the garden when they were evicted from the house in 2022. The couple adopted their own belief and legal system known as “slick law”, which incorporated elements of Igbo culture.
They were described as shunning society, putting a sign on the door of their home that warned “all governmental and non-governmental bodies” not to ring the doorbell or make “any contact with any member of this house”.
Tai and Naiyahmi, who were arrested in December 2022 while living in a shipping container in Somerset, were sentenced to 24 years and six months and 19 years and six months for multiple charges including child cruelty, causing or allowing the death of a child, and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
