Sara Sharif hooded and beaten during two years of abuse, murder trial told

By Emily Pennink and Rosie Shead, Reporters15th October 2024News EnglandChild Abuse, Child Protection, Childrens Services, Courts / Justice, Domestic Abuse / Violence, News England, Surrey

Sara Sharif was hooded, restrained and beaten with a belt buckle and pole in a campaign of abuse lasting more than two years before her death, a court has heard.

Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of his 10-year-old daughter’s murder alongside Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 29.

Police found Sara’s body in a bunk bed in her home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10 last year following a call from Sharif in Pakistan saying he “beat her up too much” for being “naughty”, the court has heard.

It is alleged Sara (pictured) had died two days before and within hours the defendants had booked a flight out of the country.

In messages to her sisters, Batool accused Sharif of beating his daughter up, saying: “Something happens to Sara I will not be able to forgive myself.”

In May 2021, she wrote: “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 evidence, including a soiled nappy, makeshift hoods, and a variety of potential weapons such as rolling pins and a cricket bat, suggested more than one adult was involved.

A post-mortem examination found Sara had suffered dozens of injuries including “probable human bite marks”, an iron burn and scalding from hot water.

There was also evidence that she had been restrained with her head covered with “homemade hoods” comprised of parcel tape and plastic bags, jurors have heard.

Fingerprints allegedly belonging to her father, Sharif, were found on one of the bags that was tested by forensics and on the non-adhesive side of a bit of parcel tape.

Traces of the 10-year-old’s blood were discovered on the kitchen floor, a vacuum cleaner and a cricket bat following a police search of the family home, the prosecution said.

The court heard that expert analysis of some of the child’s bruises concluded that they could have been caused by a pole or the buckle of a belt recovered from a children’s Wendy house in the garden.

A neighbour told police that two days before Sara’s death she had heard a “single high-pitched scream” which lasted a couple of seconds and then suddenly stopped.

Mr Emlyn Jones KC said: “It sounded to her like the scream of someone in pain. As she put it, ‘it didn’t sound good’.”

Jurors heard that other neighbours from when the Sharif family lived in West Byfleet and later in Woking had heard screams, smacking and crying.

Rebecca Spencer told of sounds of “banging and rattling” as if someone was trying to get out of a door that would not open, the court heard.

She allegedly told police: “On the occasions that I would hear these banging and rattling sounds, they would often be accompanied by the sounds of a child crying or a screaming, followed by complete silence.

“On those occasions I can only describe the silence as deathly quiet and I cannot even imagine what had happened to make the crying or screaming child become immediately so silent.”

Ms Spencer also described bangs from inside the Sharif’s flat like someone had been hit or smacked, the court was told.

Mr Emlyn Jones said she considered reporting it to social services but ultimately decided against it.

In March 2020, another neighbour Chloe Redwin allegedly heard children screaming and the mother shouting “shut the f*** up” and “go to your room you f***ing bastard”.

She told of loud smacking followed by “gut-wrenching screams” of a young girl and the mother shouting “shut up”, jurors were told.

The court heard Sara appeared to have a number of household chores, including taking the bins out each week and hanging up washing.

University student and part-time McDonald’s worker Malik moved in in December 2022 and was present when screaming and slapping was going on, according to Ms Redwin.

From last January, Sara began to wear a hijab to school which the court heard was unusual as she had never worn one before and neither did anyone else in the family.

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.

Mr Emlyn Jones also told jurors about an “odd detail” in the case – the absence of a Ring doorbell camera at the family home when Sara’s body was found even though one had been bought just a month before.

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.