The father of Sara Sharif had said his daughter had made his life “hell” 18 months before she was killed, a court has heard.
Urfan Sharif said his wife, Beinash Batool, would accuse Sara of misbehaving while he was at work, alleging the 10-year-old had cut up his shoelaces and clothes and hidden his keys.
But Sharif said he never witnessed this behaviour when he was at home as he accused Batool, Sara’s stepmother, of being “crazy” and “abusive”.
Sharif, 42, Batool, 30, and Sara’s paternal uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are on trial at the Old Bailey accused of carrying out a violent “campaign of abuse” before the schoolgirl was found dead in a bunk bed at the family home in Surrey on 10 August 2023.
The defendants allegedly killed Sara on 8 August before fleeing to Pakistan, from where Sharif called police to say he had “beat her up too much”. He had left a handwritten “confession” near her fully clothed body saying: “I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her. But I lost it.”
Sharif, a taxi driver, wept during his second day of evidence on Wednesday as his 999 call from Pakistan was played in court.
His barrister, Naeem Mian KC, asked about his emotional state during the call, to which Sharif replied: “I was cursing myself for abandoning my daughter like an orphan, she has no one.”
Sharif denied beating Sara and being responsible for her death, saying: “I wasn’t at home.”
He told jurors that Batool would hit him and lock him in the house, forcing him to escape out of windows.
Sharif said Batool was “very, very crazy”, as jurors were shown two video clips of the alleged abuse.
Sharif said he recorded the first video on 28 February 2016 after Batool accused him of flirting with a hospital nurse and began “physically abusing” him.
In the clip, Sharif could be heard saying: “You are pushing me. You are abusing me. Get off me. You are hitting me. I’m going to use this as evidence, I’m telling you now.”
Batool repeatedly demanded he stop filming saying: “I ain’t scared of you.”
In the second video, dated 26 June 2019, Sharif was heard repeatedly asking Batool to “let me go” before jumping out of a window.
Sharif told jurors Batool “slapped” him, adding: “I tried to leave but she locked the front door. I jumped through the kitchen window.”
Mian asked why he had made the recordings and Sharif replied: “She’s very, very crazy, when she goes into that mindset she doesn’t stop, she doesn’t care about anything at all.”
When asked why he did not end the relationship, Sharif added: “Her family used to come a lot and tell me not to leave. She [Batool] used to tell me how much she loved me. Her family told me she was possessed, someone has done black magic on her and most of the time she’s good but when she goes mad no one can stop her.”
Sharif was also asked about WhatsApp messages he had sent to Batool, which she had forwarded as a screenshot on 10 February 2022 to her older sister.
He had texted Batool saying: “Both of you have made my life hell … Neither her nor you can be trusted. Both of you make life hell for people who love and care for you. I’m done with you now but it will be her turn if she does anything silly.”
Sharif told jurors the message referred to Batool and Sara. He said he had sent it because Sara was being accused of being “naughty” and Batool was “abusive”.
He wept as he added: “I loved Beinash from the first day, and I loved Sara because she was my daughter, but always something was going on when they were together.”
Sharif also accused Batool of being the driving force behind the decision to homeschool Sara. When Mian asked: “Was this a plan by you to keep Sara from school because she was so badly bruised,” Sharif replied: “No, sir.”
Sharif said he had spent £7,560 buying Batool gold bangles for her birthday less than four weeks before Sara’s death.
All three defendants have denied murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between 16 December 2022 and 9 August 2023.
The trial continues.
