A woman of Indian origin was on Monday jailed for life for beating her seven-year-old son to death for not memorising the Koran.
Sara Ege (33),a university graduate originally from Hyderabad, was accused of beating Yaseen Ege “like a dog” in a fit of temper at their home in Cardiff, Wales, in 2010, and then setting fire to his body after she realised that he had died.
Judge Justice Wyn Williams said: “I am satisfied that it was his failure to learn the Koran that day that resulted in the beating that caused his death.”
She was also found guilty of perverting the court of justice and would spend a minimum of 17 years in prison.
Ms. Ege collapsed as the verdict was read out at Cardiff Crown Court and had to be carried from the dock.
Her husband Yousouf Ege, a taxi driver, was acquitted of the charge of failing to protect the child.
During the five-week trial, which saw her repeatedly break down, Ms. Ege pleaded not guilty after initially making a confession which she retracted. She claimed that she was forced by her husband and his family to make the confession. She blamed her husband for Yaseen’s death.
In the recorded confession, shown to the jury, she recalled how he had collapsed after she had beaten him.
“He was breathing as if he was asleep when I left him. He was still murmuring the same thing over and over again. I thought that he was just tired,” she said.
Ten minutes later, when she returned, he was dead, she said adding that she then used barbecue gel to burn his body.
The court was told that the couple had enrolled Yaseen at a local mosque and wanted him to become Hafiz but Ms. Ege became increasingly frustrated with her son's inability to learn the passages.
“I was getting all this bad stuff in my head, like I couldn’t concentrate… I would shout at Yaseen all the time… and I hit Yaseen with a stick on his back like a dog,” she said in the retracted confession.
According to the prosecution, Yaseen suffered significant abdominal injuries that led to his death and Ms. Ege “made no attempt to seek the medical attention he so obviously needed.”
