A mother who starved her son to death has been placed under an indefinite hospital order. Olabisi Abubakar from Cardiff caused the death of her three-year-old Taiwo by extreme religious fasting but last Friday a jury found her not guilty by reason of insanity of a charge of manslaughter and two of child cruelty.
Cardiff Crown Court heard that Ms Abubakar, a devout pentecostal Christian, became "engulfed" by her religious beliefs" during the Covid pandemic. Police forced their way into the 42-year-old's Cwmdare Street flat in Cathays on June 29, 2020, and found her thin and dehydrated next to the body of Taiwo. The former hairdresser is believed to have started the extreme fasting three to four months earlier.
A hospital order was imposed on Tuesday after forensic psychiatrist Dr Tom Wynne told the court Ms Abubakar was still showing "delusional beliefs" associated with the paranoid schizophrenia that caused her to starve her son. He said: "It is a relapsing and remitting illness. It can fluctuate and it is lifelong."
