For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
The trial of three family members accused of murdering schoolgirl Sara Sharif is set to resume on Wednesday, with neighbours who allegedly heard the 10-year-old “screaming” to give evidence.
Jurors have been told of a “campaign of abuse” against Sara, which left her with over 70 injuries and 25 different fractures, include a broken bone in her neck.
She was discovered dead in a bunkbed at the family home in Woking, after her father Urfan Sharif contacted Surrey Police from Pakistan on 10 August last year to say he had “beat her up too much”
Previously, the prosecution told the Old Bailey that she had had suffered “probable human bite marks”, a burn from a domestic iron and scalding from hot water.
Traces of the schoolgirl’s blood were discovered on the kitchen floor, a vacuum cleaner and a cricket bat following a police search of the family home along with “homemade hoods” used to restrain her, the jury heard.
Sharif, 42, her stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and her uncle Faisal Malik, 29, have all denied her murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between 16 December 2022 and 9 August 2023.
Police bodycam footage from night Sara Sharif’s body was discovered
Holly Evans22 October 2024 20:21
Who was Sara Sharif?
Over the last week, jurors at the Old Bailey have heard harrowing details of a “campaign of abuse” allegedly inflicted upon Sara Sharif in the months before she died.
She was discovered dead in a bed at the family home on Hammond Road in Woking, after her father Urfan Sharif called Surrey Police during the early hours of 10 August to report he had “beat her” as she was being “naughty”, and that she had died.
Upon finding her body, police also found a handwritten note by Sharif in which he confessed to killing her, and said that he was “running away” as he was scared.
A post-mortem examination found a catalogue of injuries across the 10-year-old, including more than 70 separate injuries, a traumatic brain injury, 25 fractures, a burn from an iron and scalding from hot water. She was also found with six suspected human bite marks.
Jurors heard that neighbours who resided next to the family had heard screaming and shouting coming from the property, and traces of Sara’s blood were discovered on items such as a cricket bat.
Her father, her stepmother Beinash Batool and her uncle Faisal Malik have all denied her murder.
Holly Evans22 October 2024 19:20
ICYMI: Sara Sharif had suffered multiple fractures across 25 locations on her body
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”.
Read the full article here:
Holly Evans22 October 2024 18:45
Welcome to our live coverage
Welcome to our live coverage of the trial into the murder of Sara Sharif, which will resume on Wednesday with neighbours set to give evidence.
We’ll bring you all the latest updates
Holly Evans22 October 2024 18:22
