Sara Sharif’s father has told jurors he “takes full responsibility” for the death of his 10-year-old daughter.
In a dramatic admission at the Old Bailey, the taxi driver said “I accept every single thing” while his wife, Beinash Batool, sobbed in the dock.
Previously, Sharif had sought to blame Batool for killing his daughter, who was found dead at the family home in Woking, Surrey, last August with a catalogue of injuries.
The schoolgirl suffered dozens of serious wounds including human bite marks and iron burns, as well as multiple fractures and a traumatic brain injury, jurors have heard.
Sharif, Batool, and Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik, 29, formerly of Hammond Road, Woking, deny Sara’s murder and causing or allowing her death.
Cross-examining for Batool, Caroline Carberry KC had asked Sharif about a note he left beside the body of his daughter before leaving for Pakistan.
In it he wrote “love you Sara” on the first page followed by the words: “Whoever see this note it’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating.”
Ms Carberry asked if he did indeed kill his daughter by beating and Sharif replied: “Yes, she died because of me.”
The barrister said: “In the weeks before she died she suffered multiple fractures to her body, didn’t she, and it was you who inflicted those injuries?”
The defendant replied: “Yes.”
Sharif accepted causing the injuries, bar burn and bite marks, and added: “I take responsibility. I take full responsibility.”
He admitted causing fractures to Sara by hitting her with a cricket bat or pole.
Asked if he broke Sara’s hyoid neck bone, he repeated: “I can take full responsibility. I accept every single thing.”
Ms Carberry went on: “I suggest on the night of the 6th August you badly beat Sara.”
Speaking barely above a whisper in the witness box, Sharif replied: “I accept everything.”
