The body of 10-year-old Pak-British girl Sara Sharif was found in her bed at her home in Woking, southern England, in August last year. Marks of broken bones, cutting and burning were found on Sara’s body, which pointed towards some terrible torture. After this incident, Sara’s father, stepmother and uncle were accused of murder, who fled to Pakistan a day after Sara’s death and took refuge.
All three accused deny the charges
Urfan Sharif, 42, his 30-year-old wife Benish Batool and 29-year-old uncle Faisal Malik returned to Britain in September and have been following the trial since October. He has denied all the allegations against him in the case. However, Urfan admitted in the court that Sara’s death was caused by him, but he said that he had no intention of harming Sara. He admitted to hurting Sara, but cited fear and anger as the reason behind it.
‘There was no intention to kill’
Wednesday (6 November 2024) In the hearing, Urfan told that he had hit Sara several times with a cricket bat. Tying marks were also found on his body, and his neck was broken. Urfan admitted that he had beaten Sara badly in August, due to which she was badly injured. He claimed that it was not his intention to kill Sarah, but he had killed her out of discipline.
Urfan told that before leaving the house, he had written a letter in which he had taken responsibility for Sara’s death. But he told the court that this letter was written at the behest of his wife Batool. He took this responsibility upon himself to save his other children. Apart from this, he had also left the house key under the door so that the police would not have to break the door."text-align: justify;">A day after leaving Britain, Urfan called the British police from Islamabad and told that he had beaten Sara for discipline, which led to her death. He told the police that he had punished Sara and even after being killed, he was deeply saddened by her death. He also said that he intended to give information about Sara to the police.
Sara was a victim of torture since childhood
On the basis of WhatsApp messages, it was revealed in the court that Sara’s step mother Batool had told her sister that Sara had been beaten several times by Urfan. In a message Batool had written that Sara "Seriously injured and covered with black-blue spots" Was. He said that there is a genie in Sara, who is making her angry.
The prosecutor told the court that four months before Sarah’s death, her father had told the school that he was deciding to give her homeschooling. Meanwhile, the school teachers had noticed injury marks on his body. Teacher Helen Simmons told the court that Sarah was a happy child, but after some time bruises were seen on her face. The school informed child protective services.
Neighbors heard screams Sara’s neighbor Rebecca Spencer also testified that she often heard Batool screaming at Sara. Spencer told that it seemed to him that Sarah was locked in a room, and she was trying to open the door.
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