The sister of a vegan mother whose obsession with ‘clean eating’ led to the death of her severely malnourished toddler has revealed her lasting regret.
When Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah, 43, first met her husband Tai, 42, he was ‘really polite’ and ‘normal’, but their relationship would soon spiral out of control with the pair eventually ostracising themselves from society to start their own ‘kingdom’.
The couple, who were said to be members of an ‘obscure religious movement’ known as the Royal Ahayah’s Witness, lived in squalor.
They survived on only fruit, nuts, and seeds and followed their own religion and laws.
In the process, they wilfully neglected their three-year-old toddler, Abiyah, by prioritising their ‘distorted system beliefs’ over his welfare, and failing to provide him with enough food and necessary medical attention.
The child died from a a respiratory illness in January 2020, worsened by a ‘restricted’ vegan diet which caused severe malnutrition, rickets, anaemia and stunted growth.
In the wake of his death, the couple kept him in their bed for eight days in the hope he would be reincarnated, before burying him in the garden of their former home in Handsworth, Birmingham.
It wouldn’t be until almost three years later that his remains would be found by police conducting a welfare check on the couple.
In December 2022, the former fitness instructor and medical genetics graduate were arrested while living in a caravan in Somerset, and later sentenced to a total of 44 years behind bars.
Now Naiyahmi’s sister, Cassie Rowe, 47, tragically revealed she became concerned about her ‘lovely’ nephew when her sibling, with whom she was estranged, stopped posting the tot on social media.
Abiyah Yasharahyalah, aged three, died in early 2020 from a respiratory illness, worsened by a ‘restricted’ vegan diet which caused severe malnourishment
Tai and Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah, pictured leaving Coventry Crown Court, were jailed for a total of 44 years in December after being convicted of causing or allowing Abiyah’s death and child cruelty, among other charges
Pictures from inside the couple’s home in Birmingham showing the squalor they lived in
‘I did notice that she’d stopped posting Abiyah on social media, but I just assumed that it was to do with not wanting [him] on social media anymore,’ Cassie told the Daily Mail.
However, despite attempting to rationalise her worries, she did discuss her concerns with her mother, who she suggested should reach out to Naiyahmi.
Cassie, who is now raising money through GoFundMe to give her nephew the send off he deserves, says she didn’t want to contact her sister, or be ‘dragged in’ to her sister’s turbulent relationship once again.
She said she had having previously attempted to help her sister raise Abiyah as a single mother – which she says was a difficult time.
‘I’m very empathetic and I [would] just get dragged back in, and I didn’t want to. I was dealing with my own health issues at the time.
‘I just think my sister had messed us about so many times, everybody was just kind of fed up with her at this point and nobody wanted to get involved.’
‘Obviously, had we known this was gonna happen… it’s just something that you don’t expect to ever happen.’
In 2021, around the same time, Cassie had also posted of her own health woes to which her sister responded.
But by this point, unbeknownst to Cassie, her family, as well as officials, Abiyah was already dead.
The sign on the front door of the couple’s home in Birmingham
Tragic Abiyah was found buried in the garden of the couple’s former home in Clarence Road, Handsworth, Birmingham
His aunt, Cassie Rowe, 47 has revealed her regret as she became concerned about her nephew amid a lack of social media posts of him from her sister Naiyahmi
‘She was asking me about my health issues and I was just saying to her that I was fine, I was seeing the doctors and that I had been given medication.
‘She started telling me that she was going through some health issues and it was some spiritual thing, but that was after Abiyah had died.
‘I didn’t know when she reached out to me.
‘I’ve looked back through all through like my communication with her and I’m like, but, she’d spoken to me after he died and she said nothing.’
However, when reflecting on the series of events that lead up to her nephew’s death, there was also another regret plaguing her mind in the midst of her grief.
After Abiyah was born, Naiyahmi had been living with her family for around a year, as her marriage became strained.
The couple rekindled their relationship at Abiyah’s first birthday – an invitation Cassie continues to regret being extended.
‘We had Abiya’s first birthday party and after that, that’s when it all went down him again because I’d let her invite his dad to the birthday party,’ she said.
‘I was trying to do the right thing.’
Little Abiyah died from a a respiratory illness in January 2020, worsened by a ‘restricted’ vegan diet which caused severe malnutrition, rickets, anaemia and stunted growth
Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah, 43, said it was now ‘hard to accept that my approach did not lead to the best outcomes for my child and that it took the court process to take me out of that bubble’
Tai, the 42-year-old son of a former Nigerian government official, was jailed for 24-and-a-half years at Coventry Crown Court in December
The couple’s garden in Handsworth, Birmingham, where the skeletal remains of three-year-old Abiyah were found in December 2022
When the Yasharahyalahs initially began dating at the beginning of 2015, Naiyahmi had been a devout Christian for some time, and Taj, according to Cassie, seemed ‘very polite’ and ‘normal’.
But Naiyahmi’s family quickly became concerned when they began to see Facebook posts from the pair announcing they were a part of another ‘niche religious group’.
And within months of meeting her soon-to-be husband, Naiyahmi became estranged from her family.
‘We started seeing posts on, on social media where they were denouncing the Western world, and they didn’t agree with interracial relationships,’ Cassie said.
‘I think that’s what caused the problem with us as a family because we’re quite diverse.
‘We’ve all got mixed race children, so it was a bit of a shock, and we didn’t attend the wedding.’
‘Obviously, I was concerned because this is my sister and we tried to intervene, but she just kind of pushed us all away.
‘She was just like, “No, I’m marrying him and that’s it”.’
In the wake of his death, the couple kept him in their bed for eight days in the hope he would be reincarnated, before burying him in their garden
Police raided the couple’s home a year before the three-year-old’s body was found buried in the back garden (Pictured: The 2021 raid)
2022: The couple were arrested on 9 December 2022 while living in a caravan in Glastonbury and Abiyah was finally found five days later
The couple filmed themselves dancing with meat cleavers. They were devoted to an ‘obscure religious movement’, ostracising themselves from society to start their own ‘kingdom
Speaking of her sister’s personality, Cassie added: ‘She’s always been a bit different.
‘I’ve seen her in relationships where she’s completely changed her whole personality. So for me it wasn’t, it wasn’t anything new.
‘To see her following somebody else I was like, “Oh, there, there she goes again,” – but I didn’t expect it to go as far as it did.’
Reflecting on Naiyahmi relationship with her husband, she said: ‘I know why she was doing it. He made her feel special and that’s what she always looked for.
‘He was heavily into being proud to be black, and being proud of African heritage, and so, I think that made her feel beautiful as well.’
In 2016, Naiyahmi arrived at her family’s doorstep heavily pregnant and ‘shockingly thin’ to the point of malnutrition.
She told her family her husband had sent her home due to a falling out, and because he had ‘some of his god’s work to do’
‘I was angry at him and I was angry at her as well because I’ve children and I do everything to make sure they’re healthy and they’re safe.
Naiyahmi (left) and Tai Yasharahyalah (right) arrive at Coventry Crown Court in December 2022
Further images of the conditions in their property in Handsworth, Birmingham
Police visited Tai Yasharahyalah at the property in Handsworth for a ‘safe and well’ call from Citizen Housing in September 2021
Bags on top of a mattress at the Yasharahyalahs’ property in Handsworth, Birmingham
‘I kind of had a go at her a little bit. I was like, “I know they are your beliefs, but they have I got you into this position”.
‘And she was just reciting scriptures and things. It was almost like she was there but not there.
‘She was just smiling at me and I’m thinking, “Where is my sister gone this isn’t my sister”.’
Following Abiyah’s birth Naiyahmi stayed with family for around a year, and in that time spent half a year with Cassie, who supported her as a single mother.
Speaking of her sister’s time back with the family, she said: ‘She was a doting mother, I’d even say that she was overprotective.
‘She was still vegan, but they were eating a good diet and she’s started wearing makeup again she took her headscarf off.
‘She was going to playgroups, she’d come out with me and my friends. She never left [Abiyah] with anybody.’
Despite her progress, Naiyahmi eventually rekindled her relationship with her husband after Abiyah’s first birthday.
In turn, Cassie’s and her sister’s relationship began to become ‘strained’ while they lived together.
And, without much announcement, Naiyahmi moved out of her sister’s home to the property in Handsworth, where three-year-old Abiyah would eventually be buried.
From then on, Naiyahmi had cut off her family, and had not been in touch with her sister beyond one message out of the blue concerning health troubles.
Tai and Naiyahmi Yasharahyalah lived ‘off grid’ at this caravan in Glastonbury, Somerset, where they were eventually arrested
Pictures from West Midlands Police show the dirty, cramped conditions in the caravan
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
The next time Cassie would be informed about her sister would be in relation to Abiyah’s remains being discovered in 2022.
She was the first in the family to be told by police about her nephew’s death.
‘I don’t think it really sank in straight away,’ she said. ‘The family were all trying to figure out what had happened, and it was difficult
‘We fell out as a family because some people were sympathising and there was others who were just like, “No she’s done wrong”.
‘So, it’s been very difficult to to navigate because how do you navigate something like this – that’s happened to a family member by another family member.’
Now, the family are trying to raise funds via GoFundMe so little Abiyah can have a headstone, so they have ‘something that lasts’ to remember him by, and a place to mourn.
‘He was a very timid, and just a lovely child. I just want something that reflects who he was in the short time that he was on this earth,’ Cassie said.
