Father of Sara Sharif left note next to 10-year-old girl's body saying ‘I lost it’
14 October 2024, 14:58 | Updated: 14 October 2024, 15:50
A note written by the father of Sara Sharif was found by police next to her body - in which he said he "lost it", a court has heard.
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The note, shown to the jury, read: "Love you Sara."
The 10-year-old schoolgirl was found dead under a blanket at her home in Woking, Surrey, in August last year.
Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of her murder alongside Sara's stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 28.
Opening their trial on Monday, prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said all the defendants had played a part in a "campaign of abuse" against Sara leading to her death.
The court heard the note had been analysed by an expert who concluded it was Urfan Sharif's handwriting.
The second page continued: "Whoever see this note its me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating.
"I am running away because I am scared but I promise that I will hand over myself and take punishment."
Another page read: "I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her but I lost it.
"My daughter is Muslim. Can you bury her like Muslim may be.
"I will be back before you finish the post mortem."
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Previously, prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said Sara’s father told a 999 operator he had "killed" his daughter after claiming he “legally punished her".
He said: "At 2.47am here in the UK a call was made to Surrey Police and the call was the first defendant Urfan Sharif.
"The call to the police laste eight and a half minutes. In the call Urfan Sharif began by asking the operator to take down his address.
"It's difficult to make out what he's saying because it sounds like he's crying.
"The operator interrupted him and said 'take a deep breath' and tell me what's happened.
"999 operators as I'm sure you can imagine are used to hearing all kinds of dreadful things in 999 calls. But this operator can't have expected the answer he got to his question 'tell me what happened'.
"Urfan Sharif answer was to say 'I have killed my daughter'. He used what you may think is an odd expression. He said 'I legally punished her and she died'."
Jones continued: "A little later in the call when asked for more detail, he added 'she was naughty and then I beat her up.
“It was not my intention to kill her but I beat her up too much'."
The trio travelled to Islamabad, Pakistan, with Sara's five brothers and sisters on August 9 - the day before her body was found.
A previous court hearing was told Sara's body was found after Surrey Police received a call from Pakistan on 10 August.
The three adults were arrested on their return to the UK on September 13 and were charged two days later.
A post-mortem found Sara suffered "multiple and extensive injuries" which were probably "caused over a sustained and extended period of time".
It is believed Sharif is alleged to have died from "third party involvement."
Jones added: "Her treatment in the last few weeks of her life had been appalling. It had been brutal."
A note was found next to Sara's body, the court heard on Monday.
It read: "It's me, Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating.
"I swear to God it was not my intention to kill her but I lost it."
It continued: "I'm running away because I'm scared."
Sara Sharif’s father faces court after being charged with 10-year-old’s murder
The day after her death, Sara’s whole family fled on a flight out of the UK to Pakistan.
Her father was thousands of miles away when he made the call to confess her death.
The day after her death, Sara’s whole family fled on a flight out of the UK to Pakistan.
Her father was thousands of miles away when he made the calling to confess her death.
Jones told jurors an examination of Sara’s body showed that her father’s claim to have “beaten” her "nowhere near to describing the extent of the violence and physical abuse Sara had suffered" over a period of weeks.
He said: "Sara had not just been beaten up. Her treatment, certainly in the last few weeks of her life, had been appalling. It had been brutal. And throughout, these three defendants were the adults living in the house where Sara had lived, where she had suffered, and where she had died."
The defendants, of Hammond Road in Woking, have denied murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between December 16 2022 and August 9 2023.
The trial before Mr Justice Cavanagh is due to go on until December 13.
