Grim details of a 10-year-old British-Pakistani girl’s murder in August last year have sent shockwaves across the United Kingdom (UK) even as the three family members accused of the crime have denied the charges in the trial that is underway for the case.
Sara Sharif, daughter of a taxi driver, was found dead on her bed at her family home in southern England’s Woking with fractured bones, bites and burn marks all over her body.
The discovery of Sara’s body triggered a massive manhunt for the relatives accused of the killing, after they had fled to Pakistan the previous day along with five of Sara’s siblings.
The accused in the case — Sara’s 42-year-old father Urfan Sharif, step-mother Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle Faisal Malik, 29 — returned to Britain the following month and have been on trial since mid-October. All of them have denied the charges.
Was Sara killed by her father?
Urfan Sharif, who earlier told in the trial that he was asked by his wife to confess to killing his daughter and that it was another of his children who had killed her, admitted on Wednesday that he murder Sara but maintained he had not meant to harm her, even as he beat her when she lay dying.
Facing questioning from his wife’s lawyer on Wednesday, Sharif reportedly said he took “full responsibility” for what had happened, adding that he had not intended to hurt Sara.
“Yes, she died because of me,” Sharif said on being asked if he killed Sara by beating.
He also admitted giving Sara multiple fractures weeks before she died, using a cricket bat on her as she was bound with packaging tape, throttling her with his bare hands and breaking the hyoid bone in her neck.
“I can take full responsibility. I accept every single thing,” news agency AFP quoted Sharif, who also accepted that he badly beat Sara on August 8 when she had collapsed and was dying.
The father of a 10-year-old British-Pakistani girl on Wednesday admitted that he killed his daughter but maintained he had not meant to harm her, even as he beat her when she lay dying.
All three deny the charge of causing or allowing her death.
A jury at the Old Bailey court was told that all three left the family home in Woking, southwest of London, the day after Sara died and flew to Pakistan.
Sara’s body was found in August last year by police after a tip-off from Sharif in Islamabad.
Last week, Sharif had said he was devastated by Sara’s death but agreed to leave because Batool had told him Sara had been beaten by another of his children, and that he feared the consequences for them.
Before leaving, he wrote a note taking the blame, saying “Whoever sees this… it’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating”.
But Sharif also told the jury that the confession was dictated by his wife. “I was merely writing, the wording was not mine,” he said, insisting claimed responsibility for the crime to protect his other children.
Before leaving on August 9, 2023, Sharif reportedly left the house keys under the doormat so that the police would not have to break through the door. He had also vowed to tell the authorities about Sara when he was out of the country.
A recording was played in court of Sharif’s garbled phone call to police in the UK after arriving in Islamabad. “I killed my daughter, I killed my daughter,” he said.
The day after fleeing Britain a month earlier, Sharif told in the call to UK police from Pakistan that he had “legally punish(ed) my daughter and she died”. “I beat her, I didn’t want to kill her but I beat her too much,” he said, claiming she had been “naughty”.
Instructing police to the house, he said he “left in a panic” and added: “I promise I’ll come back”.
One month later, Sharif, Batool and Malik returned to the UK and were arrested.
Sara’s tortured for years
WhatsApp messages the court learned of, sent by Sara’s step-mother Batool to her sister, suggested that Sara was subjected to assault and torture since years.
The court got to know of WhatsApp messages Batool had sent her sister over several years in which she reported that Sharif had hit Sara for being “rude and rebellious”.
“She’s covered in bruises, literally beaten black,” one such message stated.
“She’s got a jinn in her,” an AFP report cited Batool, who was referring to genie-like supernatural beings from mythology.
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones said during the trial that four months before her death, Sharif had told Sara’s school that she would be homeschooled “with immediate effect”.
While the family relocated the short distance from the town of West Byfleet to Woking around the same time, the teachers by then had noted bruising on her body, in June 2022 and March 2023.
Asked about the injuries, Sara had not wanted to answer and hid her head in her arms, the court has heard.
Giving evidence earlier in the trial, teacher Helen Simmons described Sara as a “happy child”, who at times would be “sassy”.
Simmons recalled how she saw bruises on Sara’s face twice, and when the girl had not given a consistent account of her injuries the school had made a referral to watchdog services.
Meanwhile neighbours also regularly heard shouting, commotions and crying.
Rebecca Spencer, who lived below the family, said she would hear Batool “screaming”.
“I would hear the stepmother shout at Sara,” she testified.
Spencer also said she heard noises that sounded like someone “locked in a bedroom”, with “the constant rattling of the door” as they were “trying to get it open”.