A mother who starved her three-year-old son to death by causing him to join her in a religious fast when she was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia has been found not guilty of manslaughter and child cruelty by reason of insanity.
Olabisi Abubakar’s mind was “thrown off balance” by the Covid lockdown and concerns about her immigration status and she began denying herself and her child, Taiwo, food, hoping fasting and prayers would save the world from coronavirus.
When police forced their way into her small flat in Cardiff after a friend raised the alarm, Abubakar, 42, an asylum seeker from Nigeria and a devout Pentecostal Christian, was thin, malnourished and dehydrated while Taiwo’s body was emaciated. He had been dead for some time, weighing only 9.8kg (1st 5lb), and pathologists concluded he had suffered from malnutrition and dehydration.
Unusually, the prosecution asked the jury to find Abubakar not guilty. Mark Heywood KC, prosecuting, described it as “a case of the deepest tragedy”. He said that, before Covid, Abubakar had been a “very good mother” and Taiwo a healthy and happy little boy. Passersby would remark on the smell of appetising food coming from her flat.
Describing it as a “very sad case”, the judge, Mrs Justice Jefford, said: “Someone who had been a good, caring mother suffered a serious mental illness.” Abubakar had watched proceedings via a video link from a mental health unit but became so upset after the verdicts that it had to be cut. The judge told the jury she would make a hospital order next week under the Mental Health Act that would result in Abubakar remaining in hospital.
The case follows two other high-profile lockdown child deaths in Wales. Logan Mwangi, five, was murdered by his mother, her partner and his stepson after largely vanishing from sight during Covid. The parents of the teenager Kaylea Titford were jailed for manslaughter last month after she died morbidly obese, having been neglected during lockdown.
Though Taiwo’s death is very different, the case raises questions about how many other vulnerable children may have slipped through the net.
Friends and neighbours said Abubakar’s mental health problems had been exacerbated by a lack of social support during the first lockdown. They have also questioned why she and Taiwo were moved to Cardiff from London when she had no network of support in the Welsh capital.
Plaid Cymru’s home affairs and justice spokesperson, Liz Saville Roberts, said: “This tragic case highlights the alarming failure of public services on multiple levels. There should be an investigation into why Olabisi Abubakar was placed in Cardiff away from her family and support network in London, and into the absence of social support that could have detected issues. We must learn from this heartbreaking incident.”
Abubakar’s friend Rosette Blake said: “It’s so sad. She was a lovely mother. She didn’t have the support she needed in lockdown and we couldn’t get to her to help her. She was worried about her asylum seeker status.”
Abubakar came to the UK in September 2011, fleeing an unhappy marriage in Nigeria, leaving four children with family members. Taiwo was born in London in April 2017 after a brief relationship. Abubakar claimed asylum and was placed in Cardiff.
Taiwo’s father, who has not been named, released a statement through South Wales police in which he described his son as an “amazing boy”.
“The first time I saw Taiwo, he gave me such joy, I was fulfilled,” he said. “I wish Taiwo was still with us, but I want to remember him as the happy, talkative boy that he was.”
For supplies and food Abubakar was directed to Lynx House, which the year before was strongly criticised for compelling asylum seekers who lived at or used the premises to wear brightly coloured bands.
A friend who tried to help said she was given £35 a week to live on, which was not enough as she had to send money to family in Nigeria.
She supplemented her income by doing some hairdressing and sought solace in her faith, attending several churches in Cardiff, and would fast for up to seven days while praying for help with her immigration status.
By the summer of 2017, Abubakar had been housed in a first-floor flat in a terrace house in the Cathays area of the city with a communal kitchen and dining area and shared bathroom.
When lockdown was imposed in March 2020 she was frightened and stayed inside with Taiwo for days, possibly weeks, on end, relying on a church friend, Chike Obi, to deliver supplies. But Abubakar stopped contacting Obi and on 29 June he got someone to let him into the house and banged on her door. Abubakar told him to phone the police.
She described to officers the effect on her of the pressures of not having help, fearing Covid and worried about her immigration status.
Christina Tang, a consultant forensic psychiatrist who spoke to her, said the lockdown, limited social support, language and culture barriers and stress over her immigration status were among the pressures she was suffering.
Abubakar told a second psychiatrist, Tom Wynne, she was “thrown off balance and her mind was unsettled with worry”. He said: “She was alone at home with little support.”
