Father of 10-year-old SARA SHARIF told police he had killed her, ''I’ve legally punished her and she died” - She was strangled until a bone in her neck broke, court hears

Thursday, October 17, 2024 -A father, who is on the run following the de@th of his 10-year-old daughter Sara Sharif, called 999 from Pakistan to say he had “legally punished her and she d!ed”.

A court heard. Urfan Sharif, 42, also left a note next to 10-year-old Sara’s body on her bunk bed which said: “I swear to God that my intention was not to k!ll her. But I lost it.”

Sharif, along with partner Beinash Batool, 30, and brother Faisal Malik, 29, are all accused of m*rdering Sara at her home in Woking last year. All three deny m*rder and their trial at the Old Bailey began earlier this week.

In a 999 call at 2:47am on August 10, 2023, taxi driver Sharif said: “I’ve k!lled my daughter. I’ve legally punished her and she d!ed.”

Sharif was crying so much that the operator told him to “take a deep breath and tell me what’s happened,” the court heard. 

Asked for further details, he told the operator: “I be@t her up, it wasn’t my intention to k!ll her but I be@t her up too much.”

Sharif then fled to Pakistan alongside Batool and Malik, where they spent more than a month following Sara’s de@th. 

They were arrested on September 13 last year at Gatwick Airport having flown back from Dubai. 

A post-mortem revealed Sara had suffered “multiple and extensive injuries” over a “sustained and extended” period of time. 

Sara had probably d!ed on August 8, two days before Urfan called police. She was being home schooled in the months leading up to her de@th, and before that was a pupil at St Mary’s Church of England primary school in Byfleet. 

Bill Emlyn Jones, prosecuting, said an examination of her body revealed that Sharif’s claim to have be@ten up his daughter came “nowhere near to describing the extent of the violence and physical abuse Sara had suffered” over a period of weeks. 

He added: "Sara had not just been be@ten up. Her treatment, certainly in the last few weeks of her life, had been appalling. 

“It had been brut@l. And throughout, these three defendants were the adults living in the house where Sara had lived, where she had suffered, and where she had d!ed.”

An examination found there were five bite marks on Sara’s lower left arm and one to her inner thigh which indicated the “teeth had been dragged across the surface and with central bruising, probably the result of suction,” the court heard. 

Other injuries included to her ribs, shoulder blades, fingers and 11 separate fractures to the spine and there were marks on her feet and ankles implying she had been restrained, jurors were told. 

Mr Emlyn Jones described what happened after Sharif called 999: "The police went to the address he had given. It was quiet and seemingly empty. 

"It was very tidy. In an upstairs bedroom, on a bottom bunk bed, the police found the body of a little girl, lying in bed, under the cover, as if asleep, but she was not asleep. She was de@d. 

“Her name was Sara Sharif, and she had been just ten years old when she was k!lled.”

A note written in her father’s handwriting was found next to her body, which allegedly stated: "It’s me Urfan Sharif who k!lled my daughter by be@ting. 

"I swear to God that my intention was not to k!ll her. But I lost it. 

“I am running away because I am scared.”

Mr Jones went on to describe injuries suffered by Sara who had been the victim of “a serious v!olent of ass@ult and physical ab*se for weeks and weeks, at least. 

“And throughout, these three defendants were the adults living in the house where Sara had lived, living in the house where she had suffered and living in the house where she had d!ed,” he added. 

The prosecutor told the jury that all three defendants “played their part” in the violence and it was “inconceivable” that just one of them had acted alone. 

Addressing the jury, Mr Emlyn Jones said: "Ask yourselves, how could just one person have carried out so much ab*se, so many ass@ults, without the others knowing about it and witnessing it with their own eyes?

"If any one of them was not a part of it, but had seen it, why then was nothing done to stop it, or report it? ‘Each of them denies that they were the one responsible for any of that v!olence and ab*se.

"Each of them seeks to deflect the blame onto one or both of the others, to shift responsibility away from themselves, onto someone else. 

“In other words, they are pointing the finger at each other. 

Sharif, Batool and Malik all also deny causing or allowing the de@th of a child. 

The trial continues.