Dubai: The father and stepmother of a 10-year-old British-Pakistani girl were found guilty on Wednesday of her murder in a gruesome case of child abuse that has shocked the UK.
Urfan Sharif, 42, and Beinash Batool, 30, were convicted of Sara Sharif’s murder after she was found dead at her home last year, having suffered extensive injuries including broken bones, burns and bite marks.
Her uncle Faisal Malik, 29, was also found guilty of causing or allowing her death after a week of jury deliberations at London’s Old Bailey criminal court.
The sentencing for the “extremely stressful and traumatic” case will take place next Tuesday, the judge said.
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Sara was found dead in her bed in Woking, southwest of London, on August 10, 2023. The three convicted family members had fled to Pakistan the day before.
They were arrested after returning to the UK a month later.
When cross-examined at the highly-charged trial last month, Sharif, a taxi driver, admitted to killing his daughter, but maintained he had not meant to harm her. He had initially denied all charges and blamed Batool for Sara’s death.
Sharif also admitted causing multiple fractures in the weeks before Sara’s death, using a cricket bat on her as she was bound with packaging tape, throttling her with his bare hands and breaking the hyoid bone in her neck.
Batool, who did not give evidence, had refused to provide dental imprints for the bite marks found on Sara.
The prosecutor said Batool and Malik had a “strong case” against them, by “the fact they lived with Sara as she was gradually being beaten to death.”
A post-mortem found the child had suffered at least 25 broken bones.
On arriving in Islamabad after fleeing last year, Sharif phoned British police and told them he had beaten his daughter “too much”. A written confession was also found beside Sara’s body.
However, during the trial, all three family members entered not guilty pleas.
Sharif had gained custody of Sara after separating from his first wife and despite allegations of being abusive towards his ex-wife, the jury was told during the trial.
“None of us can imagine how appalling and brutal Sara’s treatment was in the last few weeks of her short life,” Libby Clark from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said after the conviction.
“We have today secured justice for Sara, a bubbly young girl, who was killed by the adults who should have protected her,” Clark added.
