Sara Sharif’s ‘malevolent and deranged’ stepmother was apprehended when she was discovered tying up the ‘frightened’ 10-year-old with packing tape at their residence, the court has been informed.
Beinash Batool, 30, along with Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 42, and uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are facing trial at the Old Bailey on charges of her murder following an ongoing pattern of violence.
During proceedings, jurors learned that Sara endured numerous injuries, including burns from a clothes iron, human bite marks, and indications of restraint prior to her passing in her Woking, Surrey home last August.
While providing testimony on Thursday, Sharif was emotional as he directed accusations toward his spouse sitting in the defendant’s space, stating: ‘I never realized I was cohabiting with malevolence and insanity.’
On one occasion, he reported returning home only to discover Sara with her arms secured behind her back using packaging tape in the living room.
Batool was present and seemed ‘astonished’ by his entry, Sharif recounted: ‘I screamed. I was furious, I felt betrayed.
‘Sara was frightened. She was terrified. She didn’t say much. I embraced her, I kissed her, then Beinash and I proceeded to the kitchen.
‘She expressed her remorse to me and made a promise that it wouldn’t recur. And even after those days, I was naive enough to trust her.’
He indicated he released his daughter using a knife from the kitchen.
Defense attorney Naeem Mian KC questioned why he didn’t notify authorities, asking: ‘Your daughter, the girl you have fought for custody over, is at home with her arms restrained behind her back using tape?’
The defendant admitted he had been ‘foolish’ and acknowledged he should have contacted the police.
Mr. Mian remarked: ‘You claim to have caught her in the act. This is your daughter.’
Sharif replied: ‘She (Batool) expressed regret. I’ve made mistakes for an extended period.’
Jurors were informed that Batool remained in the home with Sara while Sharif worked long hours as a taxi driver and took care of household duties during weekends.
Sharif rejected Batool’s assertions to her sister that he was ‘abusing’ his daughter severely.
He acknowledged having struck Sara ‘numerous times’ but only because Batool alleged she was ‘misbehaving’.
In reference to a specific incident Batool conveyed to her sibling, Mr. Mian stated: ‘You had a taxing day, and you were informed by Batool that Sara, in particular, had been naughty. Wouldn’t you just think, “I’ll handle it,” go to her room, rouse her, and be excessively harsh?’
Sharif responded: ‘No, sir. She always blamed Sara for everything that occurred.
‘I only struck her because I was compelled to. My daughter Sara was doing everything possible to disrupt her life.’
Continuing, he said: ‘Beinash consistently accused Sara. She was placing blame on my daughter.
‘I should not have trusted her. I was unaware that I was coexisting with malevolence and insanity.’
Mr. Mian declared: ‘In her perspective, you’re the deranged one, the individual who assaulted Sara with a cricket bat.’
Sharif refuted this, maintaining he never struck her with a white pole, bitten her, or placed a makeshift hood over her head.
He informed the jurors: ‘The individual who bit my daughter on the arm like an animal? I didn’t do it, Faisal didn’t do it … Who else was there at home?’
Mr. Mian reminded the jury of the testimony indicating that only Batool declined to provide her dental impressions for comparison with the marks discovered on Sara’s body.
In late July, Sharif mentioned discovering from Batool that Sara was using a nappy because she ‘could not control her bladder’.
When he confronted his spouse about it, she claimed that it was ‘normal’ for girls entering puberty as they underwent physical changes, the court learned.
Sharif told the jurors: ‘Sara had accidents a few times. Beinash informed me that we needed to use a nappy for her; she’s maturing, and it’s that time of the month.’
Mr. Mian then questioned: ‘Are you fabricating this story because you, the deranged individual, burned Sara? You burned her so severely that she was unable to sit. With an iron.’
‘Did you scorch, did you brand Sara on her backside?’
Sharif responded: ‘No sir.’
He denied observing bruises on her body, noting only a ‘scratch on the nose’, as Sara consistently wore a hijab, long sleeves, and leggings, even while at home.
He conveyed to the jurors that he never witnessed her in distress or immobilized, asserting that the only other injury was blisters on her feet, which were treated with antiseptic cream.
On the day she passed away, Sara handled the laundry, but never performed ironing as she was deemed ‘too young’ and it was ‘unsafe’, he remarked.
That evening, Sharif was occupied with work when he received a call from Batool instructing him to ‘come home’, according to court records.
He replied that he was ‘driving, not flying’ and would arrive in 15 to 20 minutes.
Sharif denied being ‘overcome with rage to return home’ to resolve the issue with Sara, even stopping at a Co-op to purchase cigarettes or vapes en route.
The jurors were informed that at 8.38 pm, a child in the residence sent an ‘urgent’ message to a friend indicating that Sara had ‘just passed away’.
The following day, the defendants boarded a flight to Pakistan and were apprehended on September 13 after returning to the UK.
The defendants, formerly residing on Hammond Road, Woking, have pleaded not guilty to murder and causing or permitting the death of a child between December 16, 2022, and August 9, 2023.
The trial is ongoing.
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