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“She was lovely, an angel, pretty, bubbly,” a weeping Urfan Sharif instructed the Previous Bailey as he recounted his daughter Sara Sharif’s love of consuming rooster biryani and enjoying guitar.
But simply days later, he would take full accountability for her traumatic loss of life, admitting to a marketing campaign of abuse that had seen the 10-year-old undergo greater than 25 fractures, chunk marks, a traumatic mind damage and a burn brought on by a sizzling iron.
Over the course of his trial, horrifying particulars emerged of the brutality inflicted upon the “blissful” and “sassy” schoolgirl, whose father instructed law enforcement officials that he had “legally punished” her after she was naughty.
Phoning their non-emergency 101 line after fleeing to Pakistan on 10 August final yr, Sharif instructed Surrey Police that he was a “merciless father” who hadn’t supposed to kill his daughter however had misplaced his mood.
But it shortly emerged that she had been repeatedly attacked within the months earlier than she was killed. Trapped within the household residence in Woking, she was the sufferer of repeated beatings and scaldings, pressured to depart faculty and perform laundry chores for her stepmother whereas carrying a hijab to obscure her rising variety of bruises and wounds.
Regardless of the issues of neighbours who overheard screaming and crying, and the questions raised by her major faculty academics as to the explanation behind her accidents, social companies have been unaware of the complete scale of the brutality the younger lady was dealing with.
Each her father and stepmother have now been discovered responsible of her homicide, whereas her uncle Faisal Malik has been convicted of inflicting or permitting her loss of life.
Born in 2013 to Sharif and his former spouse Olga, Sara’s brief life had not been straightforward. The couple, who had met on-line in 2009 shortly earlier than Sharif’s visa was as a result of expire, quickly accused each other of abuse and acrimoniously cut up in 2014, with Sara despatched into foster care.
After Olga made allegations of home abuse in opposition to Sharif, Sara was positioned again in her mom’s care whereas her father was ordered to hold out a home violence perpetrator programme by Guildford household courts in 2016.
A course evaluation, the place he solely attended 10 out of 16 periods, discovered that he was “very manipulative” and was unable to pay attention, present empathy or discover previous behaviours.
Underneath cross-examination, he denied allegations that he swore and hit Sara’s mom and claimed he was the sufferer. He repeatedly refuted the suggestion he was the widespread denominator, provided that three of his earlier companions had accused him of locking them in rooms and hiding their passports.
Regardless of the issues of social companies given Sharif’s historical past of alleged home violence, he was awarded custody of Sara in 2019 after the younger lady made allegations of abuse in opposition to her mom.
As a substitute of offering his younger daughter with a secure haven after years of being handed from residence to residence, she was met with abuse and degradation whereas his new spouse Beinash Batool stood by and watched.
As early as Could 2021, when she was simply seven years previous, Batool had messaged her sister: “Urfan beat the crap out of Sara. She’s coated in bruises, actually crushed black.
“I really feel actually sorry for Sara, poor lady can’t stroll. I actually need to report him.”
On condition that Sharif left his cellphone in Pakistan and failed to supply particulars to entry his Google Drive, Batool’s distressing updates to her sisters are one of many key items of proof which linked Sara’s accidents to his violent outbursts.
Different messages in February 2022 heard that Sara had begun vomiting when she ate, was affected by anxiousness and that Sharif was beating her as she was being “naughty”.
In one other message, she wrote: “[If] one thing occurs to Sara I will be unable to forgive myself.”
Regardless of this, Batool by no means reported her husband to social companies and helped cowl up Sara’s bruises by preserving her out of faculty, with the abuse inflicted upon the younger lady solely escalating.
Whereas the household lived in a cramped flat in West Byfleet, neighbours reported listening to fixed screaming and crying, with Batool overheard dropping her mood and the sound of locked doorways rattling.
Throughout her time dwelling above the couple from November 2022 till April 2023, Chloe Redwin instructed jurors she incessantly heard an grownup feminine voice shouting “Shut the f*** up”, “Shut the f*** up you bastard” and “Shut the f*** up, you c***”, whereas a younger lady may very well be heard screaming.
On one event, one other neighbour had approached their flat after the distressing sounds had reached “fever pitch”, just for Batool to slam the door in her face.
After they moved to a semi-detached council home in Woking together with Sharif’s brother Faisal Malik, their new neighbour Judith Lozeron observed that Sara was by no means seen smiling, and was instructed she was being homeschooled as a result of being bullied for carrying a hijab.
Regardless of Batool’s claims that her determination to put on a headband in January 2023 had been as a result of lady’s curiosity in Islam, the prosecution instructed jurors it was indicative of the necessity to conceal her accidents.
Her major faculty had recorded that Sara had a bruise below her left eye in June 2022 after which in March 2023, a bruise on her chin and a darkish mark on her proper eye. She gave conflicting accounts of how she had sustained her accidents, and the college contacted Youngsters’s Single Level of Entry for recommendation, and it was agreed {that a} referral to social companies was wanted.
But after the Easter holidays, she did not return to affix her classmates and was stored at residence, on the fixed mercy of her controlling father.
4 months later, she was discovered lifeless in her bunk mattress in an empty home, with a handwritten be aware subsequent to her physique studying: “It’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating.
“I swear to God that my intention was to not kill her. However I misplaced it. I’m operating away as a result of I’m scared.”
A autopsy examination revealed the horrific nature of her loss of life. Sara had endured 71 current accidents, which included bleeding on her mind, a number of bruises on her lungs, a uncommon damaged hyoid bone in her neck, and a big space of ulceration throughout her buttocks from an iron burn.
Human chunk marks have been current throughout her physique, with the proof indicating that she had been hooded, crushed and restrained whereas scalding water had been poured over her ankles.
In a stunning admission to the court docket which left jurors open-mouthed, Sharif admitted to throttling her along with his naked arms and battering her with a cricket bat, metallic pole and cell phone, even whacking her within the abdomen as she lay dying.
After six days of claiming that his spouse was accountable, accusing her of “psycho” behaviour, the taxi driver confessed he had crushed her as he was indignant at her for vomiting and soiling herself.
Her soiled garments have been discovered exterior, whereas the brown packing tape used to restrain her was discovered within the bins exterior because the three defendants sought to cowl their tracks. Traces of her blood have been discovered on the kitchen flooring, a vacuum cleaner and the cricket bat following a police search, whereas the Marks and Spencer belt was present in an outbuilding.
Inside two hours of her loss of life, the trio had booked flights to Islamabad for the next day, with Batool heard calmly organising the small print over the cellphone with a journey company.
Upon arriving in Islamabad within the early hours, Sharif alerted the police to his actions and sparked a world manhunt, however did not return to the UK till over a month later when Pakistani authorities started arresting his wider household to say strain.
“Whenever you left for Pakistan you had no plan to return again. Your plan was to go away so you possibly can get away with what you had achieved,” the prosecutor accused Sharif, after he claimed he had returned voluntarily.
Nevertheless, his credibility was shredded and jurors convicted each him and Batool of murdering the schoolgirl, whereas his brother was convicted of inflicting or permitting her loss of life.
Mr Justice Cavanagh adjourned sentencing till subsequent Tuesday, telling jurors the case had been “extraordinarily traumatic and traumatic”.
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The Unbiased
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Holly Evans , 2024-12-17 08:55:00
