Sara Sharif ‘had plastic bag taped over her head and was beaten with cricket bat’ --[Reported by Umva mag]

Sara Sharif began to wear a hijab to school to ‘conceal injuries to her face and head’, the Old Bailey heard.

Urfan Sharif, 42, along with partner Beinash Batool, 30, and brother Faisal Malik, 29, are all accused of murdering Sara at her home in Woking last year.

All three deny murder.

Today, prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said evidence, including a soiled nappy, makeshift hoods, and a variety of potential weapons such as rolling pins and a cricket bat, suggested more than one adult was involved.

A post-mortem examination found Sara had suffered dozens of injuries including ‘probable human bite marks’, an iron burn and scalding from hot water.

There was also evidence that she had been restrained with her head covered with ‘homemade hoods’ comprised of parcel tape and plastic bags, jurors have heard.

Batool had blamed her husband Urfan Sharif for beating the 10-year-old ‘black’ in a series of WhatsApp messages dating back to 2019, the Old Bailey was told.

Batool messaged her sister in May 2021: ‘Urfan beat the crap out of Sara. She’s covered in bruises, literally beaten black. I feel really sorry for Sara, poor girl can’t walk. I really want to report him.’

In the summer of 2022, the court heard Bartool complained that she could not cover up the bruises, saying: ‘He beat Sara up yesterday and I can’t send her to school on Monday looking like that.’

Neighbour Chloe Redwin noticed the child had started to wear a hijab in January 2023, which she said was unusual, the court heard.

Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC told the court Chloe said she had never seen Sara or her mother wear a hijab before.

The family moved to Hammond Road in April 2023 where another neighbour, Brenin Lozeron, said Sara was ‘always’ wearing the head covering that ‘mostly hid her face’.

Mr Emlyn Jones continued: ‘It struck him as unusual that Sara was the only family member to be dressed in that way.

‘The prosecution suggest that the fact that Sara began to wear the hijab at around this time is indicative of the need to conceal injuries to her face and head from the outside world.’

Yesterday, the court heard Sara’s father called 999 from Pakistan to say he had ‘legally punished her’ and she had died.

Jurors heard he also left a note next to 10-year-old Sara’s body reading: ‘I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her. But I lost it’.

In a 999 call at 2:47am on August 10, 2023, taxi driver Sharif said: ‘I’ve killed my daughter. I’ve legally punished her and she died.’

Sharif was crying so much that the operator told him to ‘take a deep breath and tell me what’s happened’, the court heard.

Asked for further details, it was heard he told the operator: ‘I beat her up, it wasn’t my intention to kill her but I beat her up too much.’

Sharif then fled to Pakistan alongside Batool and Malik, where they spent more than a month following Sara’s death.

They were arrested on September 13 last year at Gatwick Airport having flown back from Dubai.

A post-mortem revealed Sara had suffered ‘multiple and extensive injuries’ over a ‘sustained and extended’ period of time.

Sara had probably died on August 8, two days before Urfan called police.

She was being home schooled in the months leading up to her death, and before that was a pupil at St Mary’s Church of England primary school in Byfleet.

The trial continues.

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