“She was suffering dreadfully"
A murder trial heard 10-year-old Sara Sharif was forced to wear a Hijab to school to hide her injuries.
Sara was allegedly murdered after weeks of “appalling” violence at the hands of her father Urfan Sharif, her stepmother Beinash Batool and her uncle Faisal Malik.
Her body was found in a bed in Surrey on August 10, 2023, having suffered numerous injuries.
At the Old Bailey, jurors were told it was “unusual” that Sara was the only family member who wore a Hijab.
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said the fact Sara started wearing a Hijab towards the end of her life was “indicative of the need to conceal injuries to her face and head from the outside world”.
Teachers at Sara’s primary school noticed a bruise under her left eye in June 2022 and a bruise on her chin and a dark mark on her right eye in March 2023.
One teacher described the girl as a “sassy child” and revealed that when she asked about the bruises, Sara tried to hide them.
Sara claimed the bruise under her eye had been caused by her little brother.
Shortly after, Sharif said he would homeschool his daughter. But he later changed his mind and Sara returned to school in September 2022.
On the bruise in March 2023, her teacher asked Batool what had happened.
Batool bizarrely claimed it had been caused by a pen.
St Mary’s Primary in Byfleet decided that a social services referral was required. But Sara was taken out of school in April 2023.
Following Sara Sharif’s death, her family fled to Pakistan.
Jurors were told that before the family fled, a Ring doorbell camera “with potentially valuable information” had been removed from the family home.
Jurors were provided with a timeline of mobile phone data and Mr Emlyn Jones said:
“We will go through it, day by day, to give you a feeling of who is at home and when, during those weeks when Sara was suffering, being injured, being hit, and hurt, and burnt, and restrained.
“She was suffering dreadfully – and these three defendants, these three adults, were there, living in the same small house – they were there, day in, day out.”
Mr Emlyn Jones also said police found a “number of strange-looking objects” described as “bits of plastic bag bound up with parcel tape” when they searched bins at the side of the property.
The prosecutor said: “The prosecution suggest that it is obvious what these items are.
“They are home-made hoods. They had been placed over Sara’s head.”
In the weeks before Sara’s death, Batool allegedly bought 18 rolls of parcel tape online within nine days.
Sara’s blood was found on the kitchen floor and a belt with her DNA on it was discovered in a Wendy house in the garden.
Her blood was also found on a cricket bat and a rolling pin.
The court also heard Batool sent text messages to her sister in which she spoke of Sharif being violent towards the children.
In a message sent in May 2021, Batool said:
“Urfan beat the crap out of Sara… She’s covered in bruises, literally beaten black.”
She added: “I feel really sorry for Sara” and “The poor girl can’t walk.”
Mr Emlyn Jones said Batool had told her sister that she “really wanted to report her husband”.
But he suggested that Batool was presenting herself in a “favourable light” to her sisters, and ultimately she did not report her husband, “not then, and not ever”.
The three defendants pleaded not guilty to Sara’s murder and to causing or allowing the death of a child.
The trial continues.
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