Sara Sharif murder trial latest: Jury to hear more evidence on schoolgirl’s catalogue of injuries
Father Urfan Sharif, stepmother Beinash Batool and uncle Faisal Malik deny 10-year-old’s murder
The jury is set to hear more evidence on Sara Sharif’s catalogue of injuries as the fourth day of her murder trial gets underway.
It comes after the Old Bailey on Wednesday heard the 10-year-old died as a result of “complications arising from multiple injuries and neglect”, according to a pathologist.
Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 42, her stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and her uncle Faisal Malik, 29, all deny her murder.
Surrey Police discovered the schoolgirl dead in a bedroom at her home in Woking on 10 August last year.
On Wednesday, jurors were shown graphics outlining a string of injuries found on the schoolgirl’s body.
She had suffered two traumatic injuries in the days before her death, as well as 71 recent injuries including bruises, abrasions, skin ulcers consistent with burns and probable bite marks.
The court previously heard Sara’s head was covered with “homemade hoods” made of plastic bags and parcel tape in the weeks before her death.
Fingerprints allegedly belonging to the schoolgirl’s father, Urfan Sharif, were found on one of the bags and a bit of parcel tape.
Earlier, jurors were told neighbour Chloe Redwin would hear “shockingly loud” sounds of “smacking” from their family home followed by “gut-wrenching screams”.
Full report: ‘Gut-wrenching screams’ and note that read ‘I lost it’: Sara Sharif jury told of campaign of abuse
Read the full report on the second day of the trial from our crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin:
‘Gut-wrenching screams’ and note that read ‘I lost it’: Sara Sharif trial
Police discovered the schoolgirl’s blood on a cricket bat and bruises on her body matched a metal pole found in an outhouse, the court heard
Sara Sharif’s father sobbed as he confessed to killing his daughter, court hears
Sara Sharif’s father sobbed as he confessed to killing his daughter, saying “I’m a cruel father” in a phone call to police, the court heard.
During the call from Pakistan, which lasted eight minutes and 34 seconds, the taxi driver can be heard crying as he confessed to killing his daughter, refusing to reveal his location and saying he would hand himself in to Woking police station.
In the phone call, played to jurors on Tuesday, an emotional Sharif asked the operator to write down his address, spelling out his postcode, and telling them to “send someone” to his home on Hammond Road, Woking.
In the recording, Sharif said Sara had been “naughty” over the last three to four weeks and he was “giving her punishment” to “sort her out”, adding “I did something and she died”.
Earlier in the call, the operator can be heard asking Sharif “is everything okay?” to which he responds: “Nothing is okay.”
At one point, Sharif can be heard getting so emotional that the operator says he cannot understand what he is saying and tells him to “take a deep breath”.
Sharif continued: “I did legally punish my daughter and she died.
“I left the home in a panic.
“I killed my daughter. I killed my daughter.”
Listen: Sara Sharif’s father tells operator he’s killed daughter in harrowing 999 call
Neighbour heard ‘single high pitched scream’ two days before Sara died, court told
Neighbour heard a “single high-pitched scream” of “someone in pain” two days before Sara Sharif died, jurors were told.
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said neighbours who spoke to police after the 10-year-old’s death said “they had never seen or heard anything which caused them any concern”.
However, a woman had recalled that “she heard a noise that she considered very much out of the ordinary run of the noise from a family house” on 6 August 2023, the prosecutor said.
He continued: “It was a single high-pitched scream, which lasted a couple of seconds and stopped suddenly.
“It sounded to her like the scream of someone in pain, as she put it ‘it didn’t sound good’.”
The prosecution allege Sara died two days later on 8 August last year and the defendants flew to Pakistan the following day.
Pictured: Note found by Sara’s body saying ‘It’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter’
A note that was found by Sara Sharif’s body in her father’s handwriting has been pictured in court.
On arrival at the 10-year-old’s family home, police found the property was quiet, very tidy and seemingly empty before discovering her body next to a note in her father’s handwriting, the Old Bailey heard.
The note allegedly stated: “It’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating.
“I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her. But I lost it.
“I am running away because I am scared.”
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