Sara Sharif trial latest: Father admits lying to blame wife for tying and beating daughter before brutal death
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 has told jurors he lied to them in a bid to blame his wife for his daughter’s death.
Under questioning at the Old Bailey, Urfan 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.”
On Wednesday, he told jurors he “takes full responsibility” for killing the 10-year-old after brutally beating her, as he stands trial for her murder.
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.
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.
Trial adjourns for lunch
The trial has adjourned for the lunch break and will resume at 2pm.
Sharif claims to have used cricket bat only once
Giving a contrasting version from Wednesday’s admissions, Sharif maintained he had only used the cricket bat once on his daughter and had not hit her on the head.
When repeatedly asked to explain how Sara had died, Sharif responded: “I can’t explain.”
Speaking of his family’s reaction in Pakistan, Mr Ivers KC said: “It will have come as a body blow to all of them when they read it yesterday because you’ve lied to everyone haven’t you?”
Sharif nods and confirms.
“You’re busy pointing the blame at everyone else but yourself, is that fair?”, to which Sharif said: “Yes sir.”
He also claimed that on the day of her death, he had seen Sara sitting watching TV while eating snacks, and denied that he had been forced to return from Pakistan due to “pressure” placed upon his family.
Faisal Malik had spent increasing time away due to family’s cramped living conditions
Speaking of his brother’s presence in the household, Sharif confirmed that Faisal Malik spent large portions of his spare time out of the cramped flat in West Byfleet.
Neighbours had previously given evidence that they heard “screaming and crying” as well as the rattling of doors while the family were living at the small maisonette.
As a result of Malik moving to the UK to study in Portsmouth in December 2022 and staying with his older brother, Batool was required to “cover up” while Malik had to maintain his distance.
The court heard that Malik had then moved with the couple in April 2023 to their council home in Woking, but had to remain “cautious” given that he legally should not have been residing at the property.
Sharif insists repeated accusations of domestic abuse were a ‘coincidence'
Urfan Sharif has repeatedly denied being the “common denominator” after being accused by multiple former partners of domestic violence.
Three of his previous girlfriends, who were all Polish, had accused him of controlling behaviour, which included locking them inside and taking their passports.
He insisted that it was a “coincidence” and denied choosing his partners due to their vulnerability and his ability to control them.
Jurors also heard that Sharif had been raised in Pakistan and that his parents had not instilled a disciplinarian regime towards their children. He admitted that his ideas of discipline, which he used against Sara, had “come from him”.
“Did you have an idea about how children should be punished? Is that the truth about all of this?”, Mr Ivers KC asked.
“There’s certain things I can’t explain, I have no words,” Sharif said.