Sara Sharif’s father known as police from Pakistan to say he ‘legally punished her and he or she died’
A father accused of murdering his daughter in a “marketing campaign of abuse” informed police he “legally punished her and he or she died”, a court docket heard.
Sara Sharif, 10, was found mendacity in her mattress at her residence in Woking, Surrey, with dozens of accidents together with burns, damaged bones and intensive bruising on Aug 10 final yr.
Her father Urfan Sharif, 42, stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 28, appeared for trial on the Outdated Bailey on Monday accused of her homicide.
The court docket heard that Sara suffered “appalling and brutal” abuse “for weeks and weeks” earlier than her demise.
Opening the case, William Emlyn Jones KC, stated it was “inconceivable” that solely one of many defendants may have carried out the “marketing campaign of abuse” with out the “complicity, participation, help and encouragement of others”.
He stated that the three accused had been all “pointing the finger at one another” and refusing to take duty for Sara’s demise.
Ms Batool will declare that her husband was a “violent disciplinarian” whereas Mr Sharif will declare Sara was primarily taken care of by his spouse, the court docket heard.
All three defendants have pleaded not responsible to her homicide and to inflicting or permitting the demise of a kid between Dec 16 2022 and August 9 2023.
The court docket heard that within the early hours of Aug 10 final yr, an eight-and-a-half-minute lengthy cellphone name was made by Mr Sharif to police within the UK.
The operator initially struggled to listen to Mr Sharif, who seemed to be emotional, Mr Emlyn Jones KC, stated.
“[They] interrupted and stated ‘take a deep breath and inform me what’s occurred’. 999 operators are used to listening to every kind of dreadful issues, however this one can not have anticipated the reply he bought to that query.”
The court docket heard that Mr Sharif, a taxi driver, informed the operator “I’ve killed my daughter” earlier than including “I legally punished her and he or she died”.
When pressed for extra particulars, he replied: “She was naughty”, after which “I beat her up, it wasn’t my intention to kill her, however I beat her up an excessive amount of”, the court docket heard.
Within the name, he’s heard begging the police to go to his residence “as a result of his daughter is alone”.
On the residence tackle on Hammond Street, in an upstairs bed room, on the underside bunk, police discovered Sara “as if asleep”.
“However she was not asleep,” Mr Emlyn Jones stated, “She was useless. Her title was Sara Sharif, and he or she had been simply 10 years outdated when she was killed.”
The court docket heard that subsequent to her physique was a word ‘in Urfan Sharif’s handwriting’, which learn: “It’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating”, and “I swear to God that my intention was to not kill her. However I misplaced it”.
The word additionally stated: “I’m working away as a result of I’m scared.”
Mr Emlyn Jones stated: “It was actually true that he ran away… In actual fact the entire household ran they fled to Pakistan, flying out on August 9 and touchdown on August 10.”
Sharif had not known as the police till he was “hundreds of miles away”, the prosecutor added.
He informed the jurors that all through the trial, they might hear proof from Sara’s faculty and neighbours.
He stated that Sara had been withdrawn from her faculty to be home-schooled just a few months earlier than she died.
The prosecutor added that proof from textual content messages and neighbours would give a “snapshot of what life in that home was like”.
Mr Emlyn Jones stated that Sharif’s declare that he “beat up” his daughter “got here nowhere close to to describing the extent of the violence and the bodily abuse Sara suffered”.
He informed the court docket that the schoolgirl had “been the sufferer of assault and bodily abuse for weeks and weeks a minimum of”.
Docs discovered “dozens of separate accidents” each “externally and internally”. She had suffered intensive bruising, burns and damaged bones.
“So no, Sara had not simply been overwhelmed up. Her remedy, actually in the previous couple of weeks of her life, had been appalling; it had been brutal.”
He added: “On the coronary heart of this case lies a easy however miserable reality. A ten-year-old lady was discovered useless in her residence; examination of her physique exhibits that she had been subjected to repeated severe violence over a major time frame.”
Mr Emlyn Jones stated all three defendants had been charged with homicide as a result of it was “inconceivable” the others wouldn’t have recognized.
He continued: “It’s inconceivable that one of many adults alone, or two of them, may have carried out what quantities to a marketing campaign of abuse with out the complicity, participation, help and encouragement of the others.
“None of them ever reported Sara’s abuse to any exterior company, who may have intervened; Sara’s medical information inform us that not one of the accidents she obtained was ever reported, or proven to a physician, or to employees at her faculty; no exterior assist was known as.
“Not one of the defendants did something to forestall what was taking place to Sara, as they certainly would have finished if they’d not been complicit in what was taking place. The prosecution case is that they’re all chargeable for her demise, and they’re all responsible of her homicide.”
‘Critical and repeated violence’
The court docket heard that “all the defendants settle for that Sara had suffered severe and repeated violence throughout the household residence”.
Nevertheless, Mr Emlyn Jones stated: “Every of them denies that they had been the one chargeable for any of that violence and abuse.
“Every of them seeks to deflect the blame onto one or each of the others, to shift duty away from themselves, onto another person.”
Mr Sharif, the court docket heard, would search to say that he was not chargeable for the violence, as he was usually out working.
He stated Sara was primarily taken care of by his spouse, Ms Batool.
He claimed that his obvious confessions within the word and the video name had been false and he had solely made them to guard his associate.
Ms Batool blamed Sara’s demise on Sharif who she described as a “violent disciplinarian” who frequently assaulted his daughter.
She is going to argue that though she knew what was taking place she was too terrified of her husband to intervene.
Malik claims that he was unaware of any of the abuse being perpetrated in opposition to Sara.
Mr Emlyn Jones stated the case was certain to generate “robust feelings; misery, disgust, nice unhappiness and probably even anger.”
The trial, set to final for 9 weeks, continues.
