Sara Sharif's stepmum 'wanted to report' dad after WhatsApps reveal she was 'beaten black' by him years before death
15 October 2024, 14:46 | Updated: 15 October 2024, 14:54
Some readers may find the following details distressing
Sara Sharif's stepmother told her sisters about violence against the 10-year-old spanning at least two years before her death, saying "something happens to Sara I will not be able to forgive myself", a court has heard.
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Beinash Batool had blamed her husband Urfan Sharif for beating the 10-year-old "black" in a series of WhatsApp messages dating back to 2019, the Old Bailey was told.
But the prosecution alleged Batool, 30, minicab driver Sharif, 42, and his brother Faisal Malik, 29, all played a part in Sara's death after being hooded, restrained, burned, bitten and hit with a belt buckle and pole.
In May 2021, she messaged her sister: "Urfan beat the crap out of Sara.
"She's covered in bruises, literally beaten black.
"I feel really sorry for Sara, poor girl can't walk. I really want to report him."
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said the messages Batool sent to her sisters showed "all was not well" in the household and cast Sharif as an "angry parent".
He told jurors: "As a minimum, it shows that Sara was being hurt and injured as long ago as spring of 2021 - so that is more than two years before her death - and that Beinash Batool was aware and even on her version of events, she didn't stop it."
In February 2022, the court heard she told another sister that Sharif was "beating Sara up ... 'cos she's being naughty".
She said that Sara had "anxiety" and vomited whatever she ate, adding: "Urfan's behaviour makes her do it more."
Then she told her sister: "Something happens to Sara I will not be able to forgive myself."
In the summer of 2022, the court heard Bartool complained that she could not cover up the bruises, saying: "He beat Sara up yesterday and I can't send her to school on Monday looking like that."
Sara was taken out of school in April 2023 and died four months later.
Mr Emlyn Jones told jurors: "These messages are only one small part of the overall picture.
"It is the prosecution's case that Sara's death was caused by the combined actions of all three adults in the house; for the systematic, if not daily then certainly frequent assault and abuse of that little girl could not have been done without the participation, assistance and encouragement of them all.
"Keeping it from the outside world is just one small aspect of that. It would be no surprise, the prosecution suggest, if Beinash Batool presented only a partial picture of the truth to members of her own family."
Previously, Sara's mother, Olg Sharif, previously said she was so badly injured she could not recognise her in the mortuary.
"One of her cheeks was swollen and the other side was bruised.
"Even now, when I close my eyes I can see what my baby looked like."
Sara also began to wear a hijab to school to "conceal injuries to her face and head", jurors were told.
Neighbour Chloe Redwin noticed the child had started to wear a hijab in January 2023 which "she thought was unusual as she had never worn one before and her mother did not wear one", prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said.
The court heard that Sara’s primary school noticed a bruise under her left eye in June 2022 as well as a bruise on her chin and a dark mark on her right eye in March 2023.
Mr Emlyn Jones suggested: "The fact that Sara began to wear the hijab at around this time is indicative of the need to conceal injuries to her face and head from the outside world."
Jurors heard of concerns about Sara's injuries at her school before she was home schooled last April, four months before her death.
The school recorded Sara had a bruise under her left eye in June 2022 and then in March 2023, a bruise on her chin and a dark mark on her right eye.
The school contacted Children's Single Point of Access for advice, and it was agreed that a referral to social services was needed, Mr Emlyn Jones said.
Sara's teacher Helen Simmons described her as a "happy child", who at times would be "sassy".
When she asked Sara about bruises last March, she gave conflicting explanations and pulled her hijab to hide her face.
Earlier, the court heard a note written by Urfan Sharif was found by police next to her body.
The note, shown to the jury, read: "Love you Sara."
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."
The court heard the note had been analysed by an expert who concluded it was Urfan Sharif's handwriting.
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 Surrey Police to confess her death.
The defendants, of Hammond Road in Woking, have denied Sara's murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between December 16 2022 and August 9 2023.
The Old Bailey trial continues.
Sara Sharif’s father faces court after being charged with 10-year-old’s murder
