‘Inhuman’ violence against Sara Sharif ‘normalized’ by defendants, jurors told

The ‘inhuman’ violence against Sara Sharif was ‘completely normalised’ in the family, where all three adults were ‘involved’, jurors heard.

Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, his wife Beinash Batool, 30, and brother Faisal Malik, 29, are accused of participating in years of abuse that culminated in her death last August.

The 10-year-old was found dead at the family home in Woking, Surrey, the day after the defendants fled to Pakistan, the Old Bailey has heard.

She suffered dozens of injuries, including multiple broken bones, bites, burns from iron and boiling water, and signs of being hooded and bound with tape, the Old Bailey has heard.

While giving evidence, Sharif had initially blamed Batool for Sara’s death, but on the seventh day in the witness box he told jurors he took “full responsibility”.

He admitted strangling her with his bare hands and assaulting her with a cricket bat, a metal pole and a mobile phone, even punching her in the stomach as she lay dying.

He denied having anything to do with human bite marks on her arm and iron burns on her buttocks.

On Thursday, prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC insisted that all defendants must have known what was going on in the house.

He said Batool knew Sharif would spank the many times she called his home because Sara had been “sick” or “naughty,” but she did it anyway.

“She makes sure she gets a spanking. She makes the call that causes the beating to happen, she calls it and she is responsible for that, right? he said.

Sharif denied it.

Mr Emlyn Jones said restraining and inflicting “excruciatingly” painful iron burns on Sara’s buttocks would have required two people.

Sharif told jurors he was not present but suggested they “must have been children”.

Mr Emlyn Jones replied: “How low are you willing to stoop? An injury that would have left her in lasting pain, open and gaping as she died. An injury that was reportedly at least two weeks old… compounded by the fact that she had to wear a dirty diaper, right?

“What about burns on her feet, what about pouring boiling water over her feet while they were tied together?

“If you didn’t burn her with the iron and if you didn’t burn her feet, that means we have more than one abuser in the house.”

He continued: ‘Is it fair to say that violence against Sara had become completely normal in that house. It had become acceptable. Her life was spent being beaten, hurt and punished.”

He referred to a video shown to jurors of Sara at a barbecue, which said none of the adults present “batted an eyelid” at her black eye.

The “abhorrent” practice of tying Sara up with packing tape had become an alternative method of punishing her when Sharif was not at home, the prosecutor said.

‘Isn’t it inhumane, Mr Sharif? You can’t bring yourself to admit this. The question is: who does it?

“My suggestion is that everyone should participate. Otherwise it will just be undone by someone else,” said Emlyn Jones.

The defendant admitted that he hit Sara with a bat because he was angry that she was vomiting and soiling herself.

Mr Emlyn Jones said: “That is a cruel weapon you can use on anyone and you used it because you were angry, hitting her again and again because you were angry.

Sharif said: “I had no intention of doing her any harm.”

The prosecutor said: ‘Just think to yourself whether it makes any sense that you could hit a child repeatedly with a cricket bat without intending to harm him. It’s a lie, isn’t it?

“Unfortunately, this means realizing you’re admitting to murder and still trying to get away with murder. Now you have had to back down on your admission.”

Sharif reiterated his earlier statement that he took “full responsibility.”

Mr Emlyn Jones responded: “It doesn’t feel like you’re taking responsibility. It feels like you’re squirming.”

The court heard that the abuse left Sara with a number of spinal fractures, similar to those caused when a child falls six meters from a roof.

Mr Emlyn Jones insisted: “You did that to Sara by hitting her with the force as if she had fallen from a second story roof over and over again.

“The last time I did something decent, when you hit Sara so hard with a cricket bat that you broke her spine, you intended to at least cause her a serious injury.”

Sharif replied: “No.”

Mr Emlyn Jones claimed: “You are a coward for not wanting to admit what you did.”

“You’re a coward, aren’t you, because it’s a coward who bullies and hits a child to make himself feel in control, and it’s a coward who sits there and tries to blame other people.

‘It’s no secret in the house that you used violence against Sara. You can’t keep that secret, beating someone with a cricket bat.’

Sharif insisted that everything be kept separate from Malik because he would have told their father.

Earlier, Michael Ivers KC, for Malik, questioned Sharif about evidence that Sara was the second child associated with him to suffer bite wounds and iron burns.

He said: “What are the chances that two children you are associated with suffered iron burns and bite wounds?”

Sharif replied: “I wasn’t blamed for that. It wasn’t me. I didn’t bite.”

Mr Ivers states: “Of course it is no coincidence, you are the common denominator.

“Did you tell anyone to do that? Did you have any idea how she (Sara) should be punished? Is that the truth of it all?”

Sharif replied: “There are certain things I cannot explain. I have no words.”

Sharif, Batool and Malik, formerly of Hammond Road, Woking, Surrey, deny murder and causing or permitting Sara’s death and the trial continues.