Sara Sharif: Ten-year-old ‘had plastic bag taped over head and was hit with cricket bat’ before death

WARNING: GRAPHIC DETAILS

Sara Sharif had a plastic bag taped over her head and was beaten with a cricket bat during years of abuse, a court heard.

The ten-year-old was allegedly battered to death by her father who left a written “confession” next to her body before fleeing to Pakistan.

On Tuesday the Old Bailey heard further details of the violence Sara suffered before her death at her home in Surrey last year.

The schoolgirl was said to have been beaten so badly that she sometimes couldn’t walk after being tied up with rope and parcel tape.

The court heard she was hit with items including a cricket bat, rolling pin, a metal pole and a belt buckle.

Neighbours regularly heard “gut-wrenching” screams from the family’s home in Woking but no one raised the alarm, prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC said.

Over nine days, Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool allegedly bought 18 rolls of Amazon parcel tape to make “homemade hoods” by taping plastic bags around the victim’s face and leaving just a small hole for her mouth.

On Tuesday jurors were shown disturbing photographs of the hoods and weapons found at the house as well as a copy of the alleged confession left by her father, Urfan Sharif.

The note, which was found next to the child’s body in her bunk bed, read: “Love you Sara. Whoever see this note, it’s 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. I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her but I lost it.”

The note continued: “My daughter is Muslim. Can you bury her like Muslim. Maybe I will be back before you finish the postmortem.”

Police officers found the note on August 10 – two days after the alleged murder – when Sharif called 999 from Islamabad to say he had “killed” his daughter.

The court was also told that the schoolgirl’s injuries were so extensive that she was forced to wear a hijab to cover them.

Teachers at her school said they noticed bruising as early as June 2022 but Sara brushed off the marks on her eyes and chin, often using her hijab to hide her face.

When Batool, 30, was challenged about Sara’s bruises in March 2023, she claimed they were just marks from pen ink.

Sara’s primary school contacted safeguarding team the Children’s Single Point of Access for advice and it was agreed that a referral to social services was needed.

But the prosecutor said Sharif, 42, withdrew her from school four months prior to her death – meaning she was “not seen by anyone in the outside world”.

Sharif, Batool and Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are accused of murdering Sara following a “brutal” campaign of violence – which all three deny.

But the prosecutor said Sara’s family had been aware of the abuse since 2019 when Batool sent a series of WhatsApp messages to her sisters saying her husband had beaten Sara “black”.

In May 2021, Batool allegedly 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.”

Batool told another sibling in February 2022 that Sharif was “beating Sara up... cos she’s being naughty”.

She went on: “Sara has anxiety, whatever she eats she vomits out. [If] something happens to Sara I will not be able to forgive myself.”

Neighbour Rebecca Spencer said she would often hear screams, bangs “like someone had been hit or smacked” and then “deathly quiet”, jurors heard.

Another, Chloe Redwin, described hearing Batool call the child a “c***’, shouting, ‘shut the f*** up’ and ‘go to your room you f****** b******’.”

She was also said to have heard “shockingly loud” smacking and “gut-wrenching screams of a young female child”.

None of the neighbours alerted the authorities as Sara seemed “smartly dressed” and there were no obvious signs of injury.

The court heard that taxi driver Sharif was “conscious” of what was going on because he would apologise for the noise.

Mr Emlyn Jones said all three defendants, who were living in the house at the time, had played a part.

He added: “Sara’s death was caused by the combined actions of all three adults in the house; for the systematic... assault and abuse of that little girl could not have been done without the participation, assistance and encouragement of them all.”

The trial continues.

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