The father and stepmother of 10-year-old Sara Sharif have described her death as “an incident”, after her mother described how she barely recognised her daughter in the mortuary because she was so badly injured.
In a video sent to broadcasters including the BBC and Sky, Beinash Batool spoke alongside Sara’s father, Urfan Sharif.
Sharif, 41, Batool, 29, and his brother Faisal Malik, 28, are believed to have travelled to Islamabad on 9 August and are wanted by police for questioning. Surrey police said they left with five children aged between one and 13 years old.
In a clip of the footage posted online by Sky, Batool showed no emotion as she described Sara’s death as “an incident” and said she and Sharif, 41, were willing to cooperate with UK authorities over the case.
“Sara’s death was an incident. Our family in Pakistan are severely affected by all that is going on,” she said. She denied reports from one of Sharif’s brothers, who claimed Sara had fallen down the stairs and broken her neck.
“All of our family members have gone into hiding as everyone is scared for their safety. The kids are unable to attend school as they’re afraid to leave the house,” she continued. “No one is leaving the house, the groceries have run out and there is no food for the kids as the adults are unable to leave their homes out of fear of safety.”
She added: “That is why we have gone into hiding. Lastly, we are willing to co-operate with the UK authorities and fight our case in court.”
Batool’s claims have not been verified and it is unclear under what conditions the footage was filmed.
The video comes after Olga Sharif described the agony of seeing her daughter after her death. “One of her cheeks was swollen and the other side was bruised. Even now, when I close my eyes I can see what my baby looked like,” she said.
A postmortem examination found Sara had suffered “multiple and extensive injuries” over a “sustained and extended” period of time.
Surrey police have opened a murder investigation into the death of the schoolgirl, after her father called officers from Pakistan on 10 August and her body was found at a property in Hammond Road, Woking.
The child had been living with her father and his partner when she died, after a ruling by the family court.
Olga Sharif said she had separated from her husband in 2015 and Sara and her older brother had been living with her until 2019, when the family court ruled they should live with their father.
Sharif was able to see the children, but over time their stepmother told her not to come any more. She said Sara and her brother, now 13, did not want to see her.
“Their stepmother wrote to me not to come any more because the children did not want to see me,” she told TVN. “It’s not normal that once the children were happy, and arguing about who would talk to mum first, and then the kids don’t even want to talk to me on the phone and are calling me the worst names.”
Sylwia Kurz, the children’s grandmother, told the BBC that her daughter wanted to be reunited with her son.
“Olga would very much like to have him, so that he can be with her. She would like to get her son back, as we all would,” she said. “My grandson is 13 years old, after all, so he must have known why Sara didn’t fly with them.”
Surrey police are appealing for information to help them piece together a picture of Sara’s life. Surrey county council told the PA Media news agency the child was known to the local authority.
The full interview with Olga Sharif will air on the Polish TV programme at 7.55pm local time on Wednesday.
