Sara Sharif murder trial latest: Extent of injuries found on 10-year-old’s body revealed by pathologist
A pathologist found skin ulcers consistent with burns and bruising around her neck and torso
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Sara Sharif’s body was discovered with “tram track features” that suggested she had been hit with an object, as well as purple bruising around her neck and torso.
Jurors have been shown graphics outlining a string of injuries found on the 10-year-old schoolgirl’s body, with a pathologist explaining that skin ulcers consistent with burns were also found.
The Old Bailey previously heard her head was covered with “homemade hoods” made of plastic bags and parcel tape in the weeks before her death.
Fingerprints allegedly belonging to the 10-year-old’s father, Urfan Sharif, were found on one of the bags and a bit of parcel tape.
Earlier, the Old Bailey heard neighbour Chloe Redwin, who used to live above the family at a previous address in 2020, would hear “shockingly loud” sounds of “smacking” from their home followed by “gut-wrenching screams”, and thought Urfan Sharif was “conscious of the noise his family made, because on occasions he would apologise for it”.
Surrey Police discovered Sara dead in a bedroom at her home in Woking on 10 August last year.
Urfan Sharif, 42, is standing trial for her murder before Mr Justice Cavanagh alongside Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and her uncle Faisal Malik, 29.
Pictured: Note allegedly found by Sara Sharif’s body saying ‘It’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter’
Full transcript of Sara Sharif’s father’s phone call to police on August 10 2023
Listen: Sara Sharif’s father tells operator he’s killed daughter in harrowing 999 call
The key dates in Sara Sharif’s tragic death after alleged ‘campaign of abuse’
Key dates in Sara Sharif death after alleged ‘campaign of abuse’
Ten-year-old Sara Sharif died after an alleged “campaign of abuse” in the home she shared with her father, stepmother and uncle.
Here is a timeline of how events unfolded, according to the prosecution.
– April 2023
Father Urfan Sharif informs Sara’s school that she will be home-schooled with immediate effect.
– 6 April 2023
Sara and her family move to a three-bedroom house in Hammond Road in the Horsell area of Woking.
– 8 August 2023
8.38pm – A child sends a WhatsApp message to a school friend labelled “urgent”, saying that Sara had “just passed away”.
9.07pm – Beinash Batool, Sara’s stepmother, calls Southall Travel agency to ask about flights to Pakistan but after 50 minutes the call ends without flights being arranged.
10pm – Sharif contacts Nadeem Riaz, who works for a money transfer business, and says he needs a flight to Pakistan the next day.
– 9 August 2023
9.25am – CCTV captures Sharif and his family arriving at Heathrow Airport to take a flight to Pakistan at 2pm.
– 10 August 2023
2.47am – Sharif has arrived in Pakistan and phones police in the UK, saying: “I’ve killed my daughter. I legally punished her, and she died. She was naughty. I beat her up, it wasn’t my intention to kill her, but I beat her up too much.”
Police go to the family home in Woking and find Sara’s body in a bed with a note by the pillow in Sharif’s handwriting.
– 15 August 2023
A post-mortem examination is undertaken which concludes Sara’s death was not a natural one. There were alleged signs of blunt force trauma inflicted over several weeks, bruises, iron burns to the buttocks, restraint marks and suspected human bite marks, jurors heard.
– 6 September 2023
Sharif and Batool appear in a short video clip provided to and broadcast by Sky News in which Batool refers to Sara’s death as an “incident”.
– 13 September 2023
Sharif, Batool and Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik take a flight into Gatwick and are met by police who arrest them on the plane.
– 14 October 2024
The three defendants, of Woking, Surrey, go on trial at the Old Bailey, having denied murder and causing or allowing Sara’s death.
What have the defendants said?
The defendants, of Hammond Road in Woking, have denied murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between December 16 2022 and August 9 2023.
The prosecutor told the jury that all three defendants “played their part” in the violence and it was “inconceivable” that just one of them had acted alone.
Addressing the jury, Mr Emlyn Jones said: “Ask yourselves, how could just one person have carried out so much abuse, so many assaults, without the others knowing about it and witnessing it with their own eyes?
“If any one of them was not a part of it, but had seen it, why then was nothing done to stop it, or report it?”
He continued: “Each of them denies that they were the one responsible for any of that violence and abuse.
“Each of them seeks to deflect the blame onto one or both of the others, to shift responsibility away from themselves, onto someone else. In other words, they are pointing the finger at each other.”
Jurors were told Sharif’s case was that his wife, Batool, was responsible for Sara’s death and his confession was false to protect her.
Batool accused Sharif of being a violent disciplinarian and she was fearful of her husband, Mr Emlyn Jones said.
Malik’s case is that whoever was responsible it was not him and he was unaware of what was going on, the prosecutor added.
What did Urfan Sharif write in his note?
In a handwritten note, which an expert had examined and concluded belonged to Sharif, he wrote on a piece of paper: “Love you Sara.”
A second piece read: “Whoever see this note its me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating. I am running away because I am scared but I promise that I will hand over myself and take punishment.’
“I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her but I lost it. My daughter is Muslim. Can you burry (sic) her like Muslim may be. I will be back before you finish the postmortem.”
Jury told Sara Sharif’s father told police ‘I legally punished her and she died’
The father of Sara Sharif fled to Pakistan after allegedly killing the 10-year-old and called police to say “I legally punished her and she died”, a court has heard.
Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of her murder alongside Sara’s stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 29.
Opening their trial on Monday, prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said all the defendants had played a part in a “campaign of abuse” against Sara leading to her death.
Read the full article here:
Jury told Sara Sharif’s father told police ‘I legally punished her and she died’
Taxi driver Urfan Sharif is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of her murder alongside Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool and uncle Faisal Malik.
Recap: Key takeaways from today
Opening the prosecution case against Sara Sharif’s father, stepmother and uncle, jurors at the Old Bailey heard:
- Urfan Sharif called Surrey Police during the early hours of 10 August and told them: “I’ve killed my daughter. I legally punished her, and she died.”
- Officers found the 10-year-old under a blanket in a bunkbed at the family home in Surrey, with a handwritten note next to the pillow in Sharif’s writing. The note said: “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.
- A post-mortem examination found that Sara had died of extensive injuries after enduring a prolonged period of abuse, which included bruising, burns and broken bones.
- The three family members fled to Pakistan on 9 August and were arrested over a month later on 13 September after returning to the UK.
Sara Sharif timeline leading to arrest
Key dates in Sara Sharif death after alleged ‘campaign of abuse’
The youngster’s father Urfan Sharif is on trial accused of her murder alongside her stepmother Beinash Batool and uncle Faisal Malik.
Trial adjourns for the day
The trial of Sara Sharif’s father, stepmother and uncle has been adjourned for the day and will resume on Tuesday at 10.30am.
Defendants seeking to ‘deflect the blame’ onto one another
The prosecutor told the jury that all three defendants “played their part” in the violence and it was “inconceivable” that just one of them had acted alone.
Mr Emlyn Jones KC said: “Each of them denies that they were the one responsible for any of that violence and abuse.
“Each of them seeks to deflect the blame onto one or both of the others, to shift responsibility away from themselves, onto someone else.
“In other words, they are pointing the finger at each other.”
Jurors were told Sharif’s case was that his wife, Batool, was responsible for Sara’s death and his confession was false to protect her.
Batool accused Sharif of being a violent disciplinarian and she was fearful of her husband, while Malik’s case is that whoever was responsible it was not him and he was unaware of what was going on.
Schoolgirl had suffered ‘disturbing’ bite marks
Sara Sharif was “beaten” with objects and had suffered from human bite marks on her lower left arm and inner thigh, the court heard.
An examination of the 10-year-old’s body also found a “pattern of injuries” and “signs of traumatic brain injury”, the prosecution said.
Regarding the leg injury, prosecutor William Emlyn Jones said it had “marks which indicated that the teeth had been dragged across the surface and with central bruising probably the result of suction.”
While Sharif and Malik had provided dental impressions for comparison which had ruled them out, Batool had refused to do so.
Other injuries included to Sara’s ribs, shoulder blades, fingers and 11 separate fractures to the spine, Mr Emlyn Jones said.
Beinash Batool described Sara’s death as an ‘incident’
Following media interest in Sara’s death, Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool appeared in a video clip which was shared and broadcast with Sky News.
In the short clip, Battol described her stepdaughter’s death as an “incident”.
She then went on to a “litany of complaints” about the conduct of the Pakistani police and their investigation.
She explains, at the end of the clip, that they have gone into hiding because they fear the police; but, she said, they were willing to comply with the UK authorities and to “fight our case in court”.
They were arrested a week later after boarding a flight to Gatwick on 13 September.
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