Sara Sharif: 10-year-old’s stepmother said girl’s father beat her up ‘like crazy’, according to WhatsApp messages read in court
Sara Sharif’s stepmother sent her sister some pictures of the 10-year-old looking bruised and miserable – and told her to “delete” them, a court has heard.
“Look what he’s doing,” Beinash Batool told Qandeela Saboohi, referring to the beatings Sara was allegedly getting from her father, Urfan Sharif.
“Delete the pictures.”
A series of WhatsApp messages exchanged between 2020 and 2023, in which Batool told her sister about the physical attacks Sharif was allegedly inflicting on his daughter, were read out to a jury at the Old Bailey.
Sara Sharif
Batool repeatedly told her sister that Sharif was hitting Sara for being “naughty”, “rude and rebellious”, and because she had cut up his clothes, hidden keys and torn up documents.
Batool, 30, Urfan Sharif, 42, and Sara’s uncle, 29-year-old Faisal Malik, are accused of carrying out a campaign of abuse culminating in Sara’s murder on 8 August last year.
As early as February 2020, Batool described Sharif as going on a “rampage” after spilling hot tea, saying he was “possessed”.
Writing about 10 photographs of Sara, she wrote: “This is how bad he is beating her… I feel really sorry for her. He beat the crap out of her.”
On another occasion, Batool said Sharif “went ballistic” and “beat Sara up like crazy”. She expressed fears he could break an arm or leg.
In May 2021, Batool told Ms Saboohi: “Not great in our house, it’s all a bit manic. Urfan beat the crap out of Sara and my mind is all in bits. I really want to report him.
“Why the hell doesn’t Urfan learn – she’s covered in bruises, literally beaten black.”
Afterwards, Sharif sat “on his fat bum” and played the board game Ludo, she said.
She went on: “Why the hell I’m even letting him in the house. I’m sorry for Sara, poor girl cannot walk. She literally fainted in the kitchen in the morning. He made her do sit-ups all night.”
Asked what Sara had done, Batool said: “Because she hid the keys.”
By 2022, Batool said she was planning to get some “legal advice” but was advised by her sister to give it time and not to rush.
Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik. Pics: Surrey Police
In an update later that year, Batool said she was thinking about taking Sara out of school, saying: “I don’t want to but kinda don’t have a choice.
“I’m just fed up of her behaviour and Urfan’s. Sara’s body is literally bruised because Urfan beat her up. I cannot even cover it up.
“He beat Sara up yesterday and I can’t send her to school on Monday looking like that.
“She ripped Urfan’s documents in front of him and was being rude and rebellious.”
Referring to an image of Sara in a hijab, Batool wrote: “You haven’t even seen her body, it’s a whole lot worse.”
Days later, she said Sara’s school was worried about her and Sharif was “stressed” about it.
In an apparent reference to Sara’s injuries, she wrote: “Urfan told me to cover it up with makeup and she’s going to wear sunglasses.”
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Two months before Sara died, Batool referred to “Sara’s antics”, telling her sister: “Urfan beat the crap out of Sara… Yeah, he beat her up like crazy.
“Her oxygen level dropped really low, she’s finding it hard to stay awake.”
Asked if Sharif had hit her on the head, Batool said: “Nah, but she’s breathing really rapidly.”
The day before Sara died, Ms Saboohi tried to make contact but Batool told her she was “not in the mood to speak”.
Two days later, the defendants were captured on CCTV as they prepared to board a flight to Pakistan from Heathrow Airport.
That CCTV has now been shown to the jury.
On 10 August last year, police found Sara’s body in a bunkbed after Sharif called from Pakistan to say he had beaten her up “too much” for “being naughty”.
William Emlyn Jones KC, the prosecutor, has previously told jurors it was disputed whether messages Batool sent to two of her sisters were accurate or gave a full picture.
All three defendants, formerly of Hammond Road in Woking in Berkshire, have denied murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between 16 December 2022 and 9 August 2023.
The trial continues.
UK
King praises response to ‘lawless’ UK riots in Christmas message – as he gives ‘personal’ thanks to medics
The King has praised the community response to the “anger and lawlessness” of this summer’s riots in towns and cities around the UK in his annual Christmas message.
Charles, 76, also used the message, filmed by Sky News at the chapel of the former Middlesex Hospital in central London, to thank doctors and nurses who cared for him and his daughter-in-law the Princess of Wales through their cancer treatment this year.
Drawing on the Nativity story’s theme of listening to others, the King said: “Through listening, we learn to respect our differences, to defeat prejudice, and to open up new possibilities.
“I felt a deep sense of pride here in the United Kingdom when, in response to anger and lawlessness in several towns this summer, communities came together, not to repeat these behaviours, but to repair.
“To repair not just buildings, but relationships. And, most importantly, to repair trust; by listening and, through understanding, deciding how to act for the good of all.”
King Charles and Queen Camilla attend church at Sandringham on Christmas morning. Pic: PA
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Almost 1,000 people were arrested during the summer riots, which came in response to misinformation around the deadly stabbing of three children at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport in July.
The King visited the Merseyside town after the killings and the ensuing disorder, during which rioters attacked hotels housing migrants.
His final public engagement of the year was in Walthamstow, east London, where thousands gathered in a counter-protest to condemn the rioting this summer.
The King’s Christmas message spoke of the need to support one another, as “all of us go through some form of suffering at some stage in our life – be it mental or physical”.
“The degree to which we help one another – and draw support from each other, be we people of faith or of none – is a measure of our civilisation as nations,” he said.
He added that “those who dedicate their lives to helping others… continually impress me” and he is “thinking especially of the many thousands of professionals and volunteers here in the United Kingdom and across the Commonwealth who, with their skills and out of the goodness of their heart, care for others – often at some cost to themselves”.
The Prince and Princess of Wales with their children Louis, Charlotte and George on Christmas Day. Pic: PA
Reflecting on his cancer treatment, which will continue into next year, he gave his “special, heartfelt thanks to the selfless doctors and nurses who, this year, have supported me and other members of my family through the uncertainties and anxieties of illness, and have helped provide the strength, care and comfort we have needed”.
He also thanked members of the public for their well-wishes after he and the Princess of Wales, 42, returned to public duties in April and September respectively – following courses of cancer treatment.
They and other members of the Royal Family attended church near the Sandringham estate in Norfolk on Christmas morning.
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How Sky News filmed the King’s message
Thoughts with people in ‘Middle East, central Europe and Africa’
The King began his message by recalling his visit to 80th anniversary D-Day commemorations with the Queen in June.
He described meeting “remarkable veterans” and noted that “during previous commemorations we were able to console ourselves with the thought that these tragic events seldom happen in the modern era”.
But he said: “On this Christmas Day, we cannot help but think of those for whom the devastating effects of conflict – in the Middle East, in central Europe, in Africa and elsewhere – pose a daily threat to so many people’s lives and livelihoods.”
He thanked humanitarian organisations working in conflict zones and referenced the gospels’ references to conflict and the “values with which we can overcome” them.
Signing off, he wished “you and all those you love a most joyful and peaceful Christmas”.
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