Father accused of girl’s murder denies responsibility for death in UK trial

LONDON – The father of Sara Sharif, a 10-year-old girl who was found dead in her home in Britain, denied responsibility for his daughter’s death as he gave evidence at his murder trial on Nov 5.

Sara was found dead in August 2023 at her home in Woking, a town south-west of London, after what prosecutors say was a campaign of “serious and repeated violence”.

Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones told jurors at the start of the trial that Sara had a litany of injuries, including burns and bite marks.

Her father Urfan Sharif, 42, his wife and Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and the girl’s uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are on trial at London’s Old Bailey court, charged with her murder.

The trio are charged with causing or allowing the death of a child. All three deny the charges against them and blame one another for her death, prosecutors have said.

Mr Emlyn Jones told jurors in October that Urfan Sharif said to police: “It wasn’t my intention to kill her, but I beat her up too much.”

Sharif entered the witness box on Nov 5 and was asked by his lawyer, Mr Naeem Mian, whether he was responsible for Sara’s death. He replied: “No.”

He became emotional as he was asked by Mr Mian to describe what Sara was like, saying she was “beautiful, an angel” and that her favourite colour was pink.

Sharif accepted slapping Sara on “a few occasions” to discpline her, but denied beating her in a regular or sustained way.

Mr Mian had said to the jury that Sharif had wrongly been painted as a “villain”, rather than Batool, for slapping Sara.

Batool’s case, prosecutors have previously said, is that Sharif was a “violent disciplinarian” and that she was scared of him.

The trial is expected to run until December. REUTERS