Sara Sharif trial latest: Father admits lying to blame wife for tying and beating daughter before brutal death – UK Times

Sara Sharif suffered 25 unexplained fractures in multiple locations across her body, as well as an “extremely rare” neck injury that a radiologist had never seen before in a child, a court has heard.

Professor Owen Arthurs, who conducted an examination of the 10-year-old’s body, concluded that these had been most likely caused by “multiple episodes of blunt force trauma inflicted over several weeks”.

Prosecutor William Emlyn-Jones KC has begun to question Sara Sharif’s father on Thursday afternoon.

In his final stage of cross-examination by his brother’s lawyer Michael Ivers KC, he insisted he had returned back to the UK in September 2023 for his daughter.

He agreed that he had not carried out his abuse in front of his brother, nor had they informed his parents in Pakistan of Sara’s abuse, as this would have “gone down like a lead balloon”.

Urfan Sharif once again admitted responsibility for Sara Sharif’s death on Thursday, after giving conflicting versions of events on both Wednesday and Thursday.

Under cross examination, he said that he had been aware of Sara’s injuries and the full extent of them once he was arrested and interviewed by the police.

Giving a contrasting version from Wednesday’s admissions, Sharif maintained that he had only used the cricket bat once on his daughter and had not hit her on the head.

When repeatedly asked to explain how Sara had died in court earlier today, Sharif responded: “I can’t explain.”

Speaking of his family’s reaction in Pakistan, Mr Ivers KC said: “It will have come as a body blow to all of them when they read it yesterday because you’ve lied to everyone haven’t you?”

Sharif nodded and confirmed in response.

“You’re busy pointing the blame at everyone else but yourself, is that fair?”, to which Sharif said: “Yes sir.”

He also claimed that on the day of her death, he had seen Sara sitting watching TV while eating snacks, and denied that he had been forced to return from Pakistan due to “pressure” placed upon his family.

Speaking of his brother’s presence in the household, Sharif confirmed that Faisal Malik spent large portions of his spare time out of the cramped flat in West Byfleet.

Neighbours had previously given evidence that they heard “screaming and crying” as well as the rattling of doors while the family were living at the small maisonette.

As a result of Malik moving to the UK to study in Portsmouth in December 2022 and staying with his older brother, Batool was required to “cover up” while Malik had to maintain his distance.

The court heard that Malik had then moved with the couple in April 2023 to their council home in Woking, but had to remain “cautious” given that he legally should not have been residing at the property.

Sara Sharif’s father had no answer as to how his daughter and another child suffered similar domestic iron burns and human bites, despite being the “common denominator”.

For more than a week in the witness box, taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, had denied murdering his 10-year-old daughter following a years-long campaign of abuse.

Sara was found dead at the family home in Woking, Surrey, last August 10, after Sharif, his wife Beinash Batool, 30, and brother Faisal Malik, 29, fled to Pakistan.

Sharif, who was raised in Pakistan, admitted that his parents had not brought up him up in a particularly disciplinarian household.

His ideas of discipline which he used against Sara had “come from him”.

“Did you have an idea about how children should be punished? Is that the truth about all of this?”, Mr Ivers KC asked.

“There’s certain things I can’t explain, I have no words,” Sharif said.