Sara Sharif's father told police he “killed my daughter”, claiming I “legally punished her and she died” after fleeing to Pakistan, a court has heard.
Urfan Sharif called 999 in the early hours of August 10 last year, when he and the rest of his family were thousands of miles away.
Sarah, 10, suffered dozens of injuries including bruises, burns and broken bones when her body was found in the upstairs bedroom on the lower bunk bed of her Woking home. Surrey.
The Old Bailey heard that in the weeks before her death she had been beaten with objects, strangled, tied up, burned with an iron and even bitten.
In an eight-and-a-half-minute telephone call to judges, Sharif's 42-year-old Minicab driver was heard crying before telling the operator: “I killed my daughter.”
He also said: “I punished her according to the law and she died,” adding that “she was naughty” and: “I beat her, it was not my intention to kill her, but I beat her too badly.”
Prosecutors say Sara died on August 8, before Sharif and his family spent more than £5,000 to fly to Pakistan the next day, landing on August 10.
Police later found on her body, next to her pillow, a note written in his handwriting, with the words “I love you, Sarah” written on the front.
“I was the one who killed my daughter by beating Urfan Sharif. I'm running away because I'm afraid, but I promise that I will surrender and be punished,” they wrote.
“I swear to God I didn't mean to kill her, but I lost it. My daughter is Muslim. Can you bury her as she can be a muslim. I'll be back before you finish the autopsy.”
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said Sara was the victim of repeated serious violence over a significant period of time and his evidence “never matched the description of the extent of violence and physical abuse that Sara suffered”.
Sharif is on trial along with his wife and Sara's stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, and Sara's uncle, Faisal Malik, 28.
Each of them denies murder and causing or enabling the death of the child between December 16, 2022 and August 9, 2023, and will blame each other, the court said.
Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik. Photos: Surrey Police
“At the heart of this case is a simple but depressing truth. A little 10-year-old girl was found dead in her home,” Emlyn Jones said.
“She had been the victim of assault and physical violence for at least weeks,” he said.
“Sarah wasn't just beaten. Her treatment, certainly in the last few weeks of her life, was terrible; it was brutal.
“At all times, these three defendants were adults living in the house where Sara lived, living in the house where Sara suffered, and living in the house where Sara died.”
“A Catalog of Terrible Mistreatment”
The prosecutor warned jurors to “take a deep breath” before presenting a “catalog of horrific mistreatment.”
This included 11 separate spinal fractures, fractures to both arms and evidence of cases of manual strangulation over a six-week period.
“There are other, perhaps even more concerning, types of injuries,” he said.
“The evidence shows that Sarah was bitten.”
Emlyn Jones said experts found “possible human bite marks” and although both men were barred from the trial, Batool refused to take dental impressions.
The burns to her buttocks are believed to have been caused by the iron, while other injuries indicate she was bound, the court heard.
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Prosecutors say all three played a role in the violence and ill-treatment that led to Sarah's death, and it is “inconceivable” that one of them could have committed so much violence without the knowledge of the others.
The jury was told Sharif would claim he gave “false testimony” to protect his wife, who would say he used the “brutal discipline” she feared.
Malik, who worked part-time at McDonald's, is expected to say he was unaware of the harassment.
The process continues.
