Sara Sharif trial latest: Father says he beat daughter with cricket bat as jury told violence was ‘normalised’
Urfan Sharif had earlier in the trial at the Old Bailey accused his wife, Beinash Batool, of tying up and beating his daughter
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Sara Sharif’s father inflicted “inhuman” violence upon his daughter, which was “completely normalised” in the family household, jurors have heard.
In a dramatic admission in the witness stand, Urfan Sharif told jurors he lied to them in a bid to blame his wife for the schoolgirl’s death.
Under questioning at the Old Bailey, Sharif said accusations he had made against Beinash Batool of tying up and beating his daughter were not true.
Asked if he had lied and tried to implicate someone else, the taxi driver replied: “Yes.”
He confessed to hitting the schoolgirl with a cricket bat as she was bound with packaging tape as well as to repeatedly throttling her with his bare hand – and to hitting her with a metal pole as she lay dying.
He continues to deny her murder, telling the court: “She died because of me. I didn’t want to kill her.”
During the early hours of 10 August last year, Sharif had called Surrey Police after fleeing to Pakistan to say he had beaten his daughter “too much” for being “naughty” and that she had died.
Sharif, Batool, and Sara’s uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, all formerly of Hammond Road, Woking, Surrey, deny murder and causing or allowing the 10-year-old’s death and the trial continues.
Urfan Sharif admits lying during cross-examination
Returning to the witness stand earlier today, Sharif admitted to not telling the truth during his previous evidence.
“I was wrong”, he responded when asked why he had not told the truth during his earlier evidence by Malik’s lawyer Michael Ivers KC.
“Wrong in what sense? Tell us some of the things that were wrong?”, Mr Ivers said. Sharif responded: “Everything was wrong.”
However, he insisted that his tearful response to questioning had been “real” and that his “pain” over his daughter’s death was genuine.
In a heated interaction, Mr Ivers KC said: “Your actions weren’t you mourning the loss of your daughter, it’s you seeking to persuade these 12 people of a pack of lies, isn’t it?
He responded: “I did lie. You can’t imagine my pain, I’m a bad dad, I’m a very bad dad but I’m still a father.”
Report: Sara Sharif’s father ‘takes full responsibility’ for her death in dramatic courtroom admission
Sara Sharif’s father has told jurors he “takes full responsibility” for the death of his 10-year-old daughter.
In a dramatic appearance at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, the taxi driver said “I accept every single thing” while his wife, Beinash Batool, sobbed in the dock.
During the early hours of 10 August last year, Mr Sharif had called Surrey Police after fleeing to Pakistan to say he had beaten his daughter “too much” for being “naughty”, and that she had died.
Read the full recap of a dramatic court session on Wednesday:
Sara Sharif’s father ‘takes full responsibility’ for her death in dramatic admission
Urfan Sharif says his 10-year-old daughter ‘died because of me’ – but continues to deny murder
Wednesday recap: ‘I didn’t want to kill her’, Sharif says
After his dramatic admission on Wednesday, Sharif asked for the murder charge against him to be put to him again but after a lunchbreak appeared to change his mind and insisted he was not guilty.
He told jurors: “I did not want to hurt her. I didn’t want to harm her.”
Ms Carberry responded: “But you did harm her. What did you intend when you took a cricket bat to a 10-year-old girl?”
The defendant said: “I did wrong. I didn’t think anything.”
Ms Carberry asked: “Do you accept that you killed her?”
Sharif said: “She died because of me. I didn’t want to kill her.”
Recap: What happened to Sara Sharif?
Sara was found dead in a bunkbed at the family home in Woking, Surrey, last August 10, the day after her father, stepmother and uncle fled to Pakistan.
Urfan Sharif had phoned police on arrival at Islamabad and admitted he had beaten Sara “too much”, having left a written confession on a pillow beside her body.
A post-mortem examination found she had suffered dozens of injuries including at least 25 broken bones, human bite marks, and burns on her bottom and feet.
The defendants were arrested on a plane at Gatwick Airport when they returned to the UK last September 13.
Watch: The moment Sara Sharif’s family were detained by police on a plane
Father says he was ‘mean’ towards his daughter
Repeating his statement from yesterday, Sharif admitted: “She died because of me because I hit her.”
While being questioned by the prosecution, the 42-year-old backtracked on his admission yesterday that he had hit her repeatedly with a cricket bat, and said it had only occurred once.
However, he said he had hit her a “few times” on this occasions, and had previously beaten her with a metal pole.
“I have been nasty, I had been mean with my daughter,” he said.
Sharif says he has been ‘selfish’ blaming Batool for Sara’s death
Urfan Sharif has admitted that he was the “bad one” in the family, and claimed that Beinash Batool had attempted to stop him “many times”.
When asked about his dramatic change in position on Wednesday, which saw him take “full responsibility” for what had happened to Sara, Sharif responded: “I’ve been selfish blaming other people for something they didn’t do.”
In a tense exchange, Mr Emlyn-Jones said: “You started off trying to save yourself, you literally tried to get away with murder didn’t you?”
He responded: “The death of Sara yes.”
“It’s important for you to emphasise the death of Sara, you don’t like the word murder do you? You are still trying to get away with murder, aren’t you?” Mr Emlyn-Jones said.
“Because I didn’t want to kill her, I did not want to harm her,” Sharif responded.
Taxi driver admits parenting of Sara was ‘very bad'
Opening his questioning, Mr Emlyn-Jones KC began with a series of questioning about Sharif’s method of “disciplining” his children.
“You accept your parenting of Sara was impatient?” he said. “I don’t have the words to describe it,” he said.
“Unkind?,” he asked. “Yes sir.”
“Was it cruel?”, to which he agreed again.
“And it was violent?,” the prosecutor asked to which the taxi driver responded: “I’m not sure about that.”
“You’re not accepting your parenting of Sara was violent?” he was asked.
He subsequently responded his treatment of his daughter “was very bad”.
Prosecution begins to examine Sara’s father
Prosecutor William Emlyn-Jones KC has begun to question Sara Sharif’s father.
In his final stage of cross-examination by his brother’s lawyer Michael Ivers KC, he insisted he had returned back to the UK in September 2023 for his daughter.
He agreed that he had not carried out his abuse in front of his brother, nor had they informed his parents in Pakistan of Sara’s abuse, as this would have “gone down like a lead balloon”.
‘I take responsibility for it,’ says Sharif
Urfan Sharif has once again admitted responsibility for Sara Sharif’s death, after giving conflicting versions of events on both Wednesday and Thursday.
Under cross examination, he said that he had been aware of Sara’s injuries and the full extent of them once he was arrested and interviewed by the police.