The father of Sara Sharif denied killing his daughter as he claimed the 10-year-old’s stepmother was the “true villain of the piece”, a court was told.
Urfan Sharif tried to save his “limp” daughter and begged for an ambulance, only to be told: “Leave it; she’s dead,” jurors heard.
Sharif wept as he described Sara as a “beautiful angel” and denied abusing her, saying: “I did slap her; I never beat her … I have lot of flaws. I’m not even an average father. I never beat her any of the time. Never.”
Giving evidence at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, he accused his wife, Beinash Batool, of attacking him with a wooden lemon squeezer and a broom and hitting him in the back of the head until he lost consciousness.
Sharif, 42, Batool, 30, and Sara’s paternal uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are on trial 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.”
In his speech to the jury outlining Sharif’s case, the defence barrister, Naeem Mian KC, suggested Sharif had been cast wrongly as “very much the villain”. He said Sharif had accused Batool of being “the true villain of the piece”.
He said Sharif was “extremely hard-working” and the sole breadwinner of the family, before adding: “Let me make plain I’m not suggesting that he’s unimpeachable, that he’s some sort of an angel.”
Jurors heard that Sharif initially decided to take the blame for Sara’s death and go to Pakistan after Batool claimed that another child had injured her.
Mian said Sharif was working on 8 August when Batool told him to come home, adding: “He came home and found her [Sara] upstairs with Beinash Batool, limp. He’ll tell you that he asked: ‘What the hell has happened here?’ as any one of your number would …
“Having been told what had happened, he said: ‘I will take the blame.’”
Mian added: “He will tell you that he attempted CPR, that he begged for an ambulance to be called as he did CPR. And he was told … in Urdu or Punjabi: ‘Leave it; she’s dead. Leave it; she’s dead.’”
Sharif denied killing Sara as he gave evidence in his defence. Mian asked: “Are you responsible for the death of Sara Sharif?” The defendant replied: “No.”
Sharif also denied that he bit, burned or beat up his daughter with either a cricket bat or a white pole. He admitted slapping his daughter on the bottom twice on an occasion in October 2022 but when Mian asked if he ever “beat the crap out of Sara”, Sharif replied: “Never.”
Sharif sobbed as he described Sara as “bubbly [and] very lovely”, adding: “Her hobby was playing guitar and singing. Her wish for what she wanted to be when she grew up was a ballet dancer.”
Sharif also denied being controlling towards Batool and claimed she had attacked him four times in 2016. He said that on the first occasion Batool had found out that he had given Sara’s biological mother, Olga, money.
He said: “I came home and she [Batool] twisted my arm, she hit me on the head with a lemon squeezer … I remember it like it was yesterday. I was asking her to let me leave but she would not.”
Sharif also described how Batool hit and kicked him in the back of the head and shoulder. He said: “I was in the bedroom and fell down on my face. She was still punching me on the back of the neck and I was telling her to stop as I can’t breathe and see properly. She said I was just making it up and to get up. She was hitting me more and I went unconscious. She called an ambulance and I was taken to hospital.”
Jurors heard that Sharif and Olga had an acrimonious split in 2014. During the resulting custody battle allegations “flew around” on both sides, the court was told.
Sharif said he had pleaded guilty to stealing £1,700 while working at a McDonald’s restaurant but had no other convictions.
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 before the judge Mr Justice Cavanagh continues.
