Sara Sharif’s father and stepmother have been discovered responsible of her homicide, as questions are actually raised over missed alternatives to avoid wasting the 10-year-old.
Sara suffered a “daily living hell” as she was slowly tortured to dying over many months by Urfan Sharif, who was described in courtroom as a psychopath and a “controlling, violent bully”.
The 43-year-old was convicted of homicide on the Previous Bailey on Wednesday after an eight-week trial. His spouse, Beinash Batool, 30, was additionally discovered responsible of homicide. His brother, Faisal Malik, 29, was discovered responsible of inflicting or permitting Sara’s dying.
Sharif held his head in his palms and Batool wept because the verdicts have been delivered after about two days of jury deliberations.
The choose, Mr Justice Cavanagh, adjourned sentencing till subsequent Tuesday, telling jurors the case had been “extremely stressful and traumatic”.
He stated: “I know a murder trial is always stressful and traumatic but this case almost above any other has been extremely stressful and traumatic. You have performed your duty magnificently. I’m acutely aware the evidence you had to sit through has been very distressing and you wouldn’t be human if you didn’t find it upsetting.”
Sara’s mom, Olga Domin, paid tribute to her daughter, saying: “My dear Sara, I ask God to please take care of my little girl, she was taken too soon. Sara had beautiful brown eyes and an angelic voice. Sara’s smile could brighten up the darkest room. Everyone who knew Sara will know her unique character, her beautiful smile and loud laugh.
“She will always be in our hearts, her laughter will bring warmth to our lives. We miss Sara very much. Love you princess.”
Sara was discovered lifeless in a bunk mattress on the household residence in Surrey on 10 August 2023. Sharif had killed her two days earlier and fled to Pakistan, from the place he referred to as police to say he had crushed her up “too much” for being naughty. He had left a handwritten “confession” close to her absolutely clothed physique, saying: “I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her. But I lost it.”
A postmortem discovered Sara had 71 exterior accidents, together with bruises, burns and human chunk marks. She additionally had at the least 25 fractures, together with 11 to her backbone.
Sharif, a taxi driver, lied repeatedly to the jury for six days as he denied assaulting Sara. However on the seventh day of his proof he dramatically informed jurors he took “full responsibility” for her dying.
He admitted binding Sara with packing tape and beating her with a cricket bat, metallic pole and cell phone. He denied biting her, placing her in a selfmade hood and burning her with an iron and boiling water. Batool, who had refused to supply her dental impressions, didn’t give proof in the course of the trial.
The prosecutor, William Emlyn Jones KC, informed jurors that Sharif fostered a “culture of violent discipline where assaults of Sara had become completely routine, completely normalised”. He stated the schoolgirl was “brutally mistreated, abused and violently assaulted” for years.
Critical questions will now be raised as to how Sharif’s abuse went undetected for therefore lengthy, given the household had repeatedly attracted the eye of social companies, police and faculties over a interval of 16 years.
The case would be the focus of a neighborhood safeguarding assessment to look at potential missed alternatives and whether or not extra might have been finished to stop the dying of Sara, who was residence schooled from April 2023.
Caroline Carberry KC, Batool’s barrister, described Sharif as a “manipulative, serial abuser of vulnerable women” and an “abuser of children … over many years as confirmed in police and social service records”.
The trial heard that Sharif had beforehand been arrested on suspicion of assaulting Sara’s siblings when one was a child and one other was a toddler. He had additionally been arrested on suspicion of abusing three unconnected Polish girls, together with Sara’s mom, Olga Domin, with the primary declare courting again to 2007.
In every of these three instances, Surrey police stated, an investigation was carried out however there was inadequate proof to proceed and Sharif was launched with out cost.
Sara was positioned within the care of her father after a custody listening to at Guildford household courtroom in 2019 regardless of considerations for years concerning the potential threat he posed.
DCS Mark Chapman, of Surrey police, informed the Guardian that the power’s contact with the household “goes back some years”. He stated particulars of the contact have been “properly referred into the custody family court hearing around [the] placement of Sara”. He stated there had been no additional contact with Surrey police after that.
Surrey county council is known to have supported Sara’s return to her father in 2019 as a result of that had been her choice.
Libby Clark, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, stated she believed Sharif’s willingness to go on parenting and home violence programs was prone to have helped his custody case.
She stated: “He’s quite a clever man and I know the extent to which he went on those courses … to be a better parent. Undoubtedly going on those courses was part of the ongoing proceedings, but he knew how to behave on them. I think he was clever enough to be able to give the right answers.”
Sophie Francis-Cansfield, the top of coverage on the charity Girls’s Help, stated the case highlighted “a devastating failure” to safeguard youngsters in danger.
She stated: “Sara Sharif’s story is a devastating reminder of the consequences when red flags are ignored and children’s safety is not prioritised in family court decisions. Before Sara was even born, there were alarming warning signs.
“Her father had been accused of abuse by three women, and Sara was placed under a child protection plan at birth – clear evidence of significant risk. Yet, despite multiple signs of ongoing harm, the system failed to act decisively. Instead of ensuring her safety, family courts prioritised reunification at the expense of her life.”
Surrey police stated they have been working with different companies on progressing the safeguarding assessment. A spokesperson stated: “No child should ever have to endure the brutal mistreatment, the appalling injuries and the extreme abuse that Sara was subjected to. We remain committed to working with our partner agencies to identify the lessons to be learned from this case and ensure these are swiftly acted upon.”
Rachael Wardell from Surrey county council stated Sara’s dying was “incredibly distressing”.
She stated: “The focus of the trial has been on the evidence needed to secure the convictions of those responsible for Sara’s death. This means that until the independent safeguarding review concludes, a complete picture cannot be understood or commented upon.
“What is clear from the evidence we’ve heard in court is that the perpetrators went to extreme lengths to conceal the truth from everyone. We are resolute in our commitment to protecting children, and we are determined to play a full and active part in the forthcoming review alongside partner agencies, to thoroughly understand the wider circumstances surrounding Sara’s tragic death.”
Rachel de Souza, the youngsters’s commissioner for England, stated faculties needs to be made the fourth statutory safeguarding companions with the police, social care and well being companies. “We need proper oversight of children being educated at home, through the long-promised register of children not in school and by requiring councils to sign off on home educating requests for some of the most vulnerable children,” she stated.
“There can be no doubt that Sara was failed in the starkest terms by the safety net of services around her. Even before she was born, she was known to social care – and yet she fell off their radar so entirely that by the time she died, she was invisible to them all. We can have no more reviews, no more strategies, no more debate. When we say ‘never again’, we have to mean it – let that be Sara’s legacy.”
