Yaseen Ege
Yaseen Ege was beaten to death by his mother, who then burned his dead body (South Wales Police)

A woman has been jailed for life at Cardiff crown court for murdering her seven-year-old son, Yaseen, who had failed to learn the Koran.

Sara Ege, 33, must serve at least 17 years for her crimes, which included setting her son's body on fire to hide the evidence.

She collapsed and wept in court when sentencing was delivered. She was found guilty of murdering Yaseen last month.

The schoolboy died in July 2010 from internal injuries, which had been caused by Ege through months of beatings.

During the trial, the jury heard how she had treated her son like a "dog" and frequently beat him with a stick if he could not memorise the Koran.

His death had been attributed as a tragic accident following a house fire at their home in Pontcanna, Cardiff but detectives found that he had died before the fire broke out.

Prolonged cruelty

Mr Justice Wyn Williams said: "The violence that you perpetrated on your son was not confined to one day. Over three months you beat him on a number of occasions, often with a wooden pestle.

"His injuries must have caused him a good deal of pain. Yaseen was subjected to prolonged cruelty.

"I am satisfied that it was his failure to learn the Koran that day that resulted in the beating that caused his death."

Ege had accused her husband Yousef, 38, of being a violent bully and said he was the child's real killer. She confessed to the child's murder but later said her husband and his family had forced her to make the confession.

In a statement she later retracted, she told officers: "I was getting all this bad stuff in my head, like I couldn't concentrate, I was getting angry too much, I would shout at Yaseen all the time.

"I was getting very wild and I hit Yaseen with a stick on his back like a dog."

Her husband was cleared of causing or allowing his son's death.