Couple evicted from home before baby’s body was found, court hears

A couple accused of child abuse after their son was found buried in a backyard were asked to leave temporary accommodation due to welfare concerns, a court has heard.

Tai Yasharahyalah, 42, and his wife Naiyahmi, 43, are on trial for causing or allowing the death of their three-year-old son, Abiyah Yasharahyalah.

He was found in the garden of their former home in Birmingham in December 2022, years after his death.

A jury heard that after leaving the city, the couple lived in a converted shipping container in Glastonbury until concerns arose about their other child.

Coventry Crown Court was told on Monday that Abiyah’s existence was only discovered by authorities after they began investigating the welfare of the other child.

The pair, who were homeless at the time, were invited to live in Glastonbury in spring 2022 in a shipping container converted into accommodation.

Chris Black, the owner of the Zig Zag building, an arts and crafts warehouse with a number of temporary accommodation containers, told the court the couple’s home had electricity and basic lighting but no running water, a toilet or windows.

Community facilities were available, he added.

The owner told the trial that he asked the couple to leave at the end of October after other residents became ‘increasingly concerned’ because the child had not been seen outside the container.

After rumors about the family spread through the local community, specialist homelessness and rough sleeping nurse Denise Newman tried to visit the couple in November but was not allowed to see the child.

Mrs Yasharahyalah was found to have a significant disability and could only walk “very slowly”, while her husband could only move at a “shuffle”, Mrs Newman said.

After moving to a nearby caravan, the couple were continually confrontational and refused help when approached by authorities on a number of occasions, the jury heard.

On December 2, police and social workers entered the caravan and placed the child under an interim care order in the joint care of the local authority.

Photos of Abiyah were spotted on Mr Yasharahyalah’s social media accounts by authorities investigating the welfare of their other child.

The couple was arrested after admitting Abiyah was dead.

His body was exhumed in December 2022 from a garden on Clarence Road in Handsworth, from which the couple had been evicted earlier that year.

Both defendants deny that the neglect caused or enabled the death of a child and perverted the course of justice.

The process continues.

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