Heartbreaking videos show Sara Sharif singing in happier times before killer dad waged torture campaign against her
HEARTBREAKING videos show Sara Sharif singing in happier times before she was tortured by her killer dad.
The ten-year-old was repeatedly abused by dad Urfan Sharif in a two-year campaign of hell.
Sara was hooded, burned, bitten and beaten before being bludgeoned to death with a cricket bat.
She had suffered at least 71 external injuries when she was found dead at home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10 last year.
Three members of her family have been found guilty over the 10-year-old’s death after years of horrific abuse.
Her father Sharif, 42, and stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, were today found guilty of her murder and her uncle Faisal Malik, 29, was convicted of causing or allowing her death following a trial at the Old Bailey.
Sara was beaten to death four years after taxi driver Sharif was awarded custody, despite accusations of abuse against him, jurors heard.
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said Sharif had gone on to create a “culture of violent discipline”, where assaults on Sara had “become completely routine, completely normalised”.
Surrey Police have released a poignant video of Sara in happier times after the convictions.
The schoolgirl appears to be much younger in the 2019 clip, which shows her playing the guitar and singing.
She can be heard singing about her “dreams” as she looks into the camera.
In a second clip – taken much later – Sara dances for a short TikTok video.
The Old Bailey heard how Sharif dished out brutal punishments to his daughter during the depraved campaign of abuse.
Tragic Sara “suffered dreadfully” and was burned with an iron, bitten and had a bag taped over head before she was found dead.
The schoolgirl was made to wear a hijab to conceal her injuries, which neighbours found “unusual” as she was the only family member to wear one.
Text messages from stepmum Batool described Sharif as a “psycho” who “beat the crap out of Sara”.
Describing one incident, she wrote: “Why the hell am I ever letting him in the house. I feel really sorry for Sara, poor girl can’t walk, she literally fainted in the kitchen in the morning, he made her do sit ups all night.
“It’s been so crazy man, you don’t even understand.”
Between June 6, 2022, and March 10, 2023, the court heard teachers noted Sara had bruising under her eye on two separate occasions.
The school notified the authorities and a social services referral was made – but officials decided not to intervene just six days later.
On April 17, 2023, Sharif removed Sara from school confirming his daughter would be homeschooled with immediate effect.
Now locked up at home away from preying eyes, Sharif was free to bound his defenceless daughter and subjected her to extreme punishments.
Packing tape was used to tie the terrified schoolgirl to a radiator and she was made to wear a nappy.
This violence reached a fatal head on August 8 when Sara was battered to death with a cricket bat.
She was then taken into the garden, stripped of her dirty leggings and nappy and cleaned with a jetwash.
The following day, Sharif, Batool and Malik fled to Pakistan – leaving the youngster dead in a bunk-bed.
Sharif then called police to say he had beaten Sara “too much” as a punishment for being naughty.
When police arrived, the found a chilling note by the schoolgirl that read: “I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her. But I lost it.”
Officers also discovered a cricket bat stained with Sarah’s blood, a rolling pin with her DNA and black rope with her hair attached to it.
During his evidence, Sharif dramatically told jurors: “I accept every single thing”.
He admitted causing fractures – including to her neck bone – by hitting Sara with a cricket bat.
But the dad claimed he did not mean to “harm” Sara when he bound and beat her with the weapon.
He also denied that he had bitten the youngster and burned her with scalding water.
When asked if he had intended to kill his daughter, Sharif replied: “Yes, she died because of me.”
They will be sentenced on Tuesday.