Sara Sharif had ‘plastic bags taped over her face before she was killed at house where cops found bloody cricket bat’
SARA Sharif had plastic bags taped over her face and was found dead near a soiled nappy and blood-stained cricket bat, a court has heard.
Neighbours have also told of how they heard “shockingly loud” sounds of smacking and “gut-wrenching screams” before she died.
Sara, 10, was found dead underneath a blanket having suffered “dozens of injuries” at her home in Woking, Surrey, in August last year.
The schoolgirl had also been tied up, bitten and burned with a hot iron during a “campaign of abuse” in the weeks prior to her death, jurors have been told.
She may also have been hit with a metal pole or belt during an appalling campaign of abuse, the court heard.
Her dad Urfan, 42, stepmum Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle Faisal Malik, 28, are standing trial at the Old Bailey charged with murder.
During a search of the house in Woking, police found a black rope with Sara’s hair on that appeared to have been pulled out of a head in a brick shed in the garden.
They also found, wrapped in towels in a wheelie bin, a pair of leggings with a filthy nappy inside containing Sara’s urine and faeces.
Jurors have been told Sara may have been wearing the leggings and filthy nappy found in the bin when she died.
William Emlyn Jones KC, prosecuting, said there were bits of plastic bag bound up with parcel tape with Sara’s DNA on, which he says were “home-made hoods”.
He added: “They had been placed, and taped, over Sara’s face and head.”
One hood was blood-stained, which DNA showed to be Sara’s, the court heard.
A blood-stained cricket bat found leaning against the outhouse also had Sara’s DNA, as did a rolling pin inside the outhouse.
Jurors were also today told of how neighbours at a previous address heard smacking, screaming, banging and rattling noises as if someone was trying to get out of a locked door.
Another recalled a “high-pitched scream” followed by silence two days before she was found dead in Woking.
Some of Sara’s injuries were said to have been spotted at her school, which she was removed from, and she was allegedly made to wear a hijab to cover the bruises.
Meanwhile, in May 2021, Batool texted her sisters to claim Sara’s dad Urfan was “angry” and that the little girl “can’t walk” after being “beaten black”.
The court today heard neighbours at a previous address – a flat in West Byfleet, Surrey – which Malik lived at only for a few months heard banging and rattling as soon as the family moved in.
Neighbour Rebecca Spencer said it was as if someone was “trying to open the door or alert someone that they were behind a door that would not open”.
She added: “The rattling sounded metallic, possibly a loose door lock or catch mechanism.
“On the occasions that I would hear these banging and rattling sounds, they would be accompanied by the sounds of a child crying or a screaming, followed by complete silence.
“On those occasions I can only describe the silence as ‘deathly quiet’ and I cannot imagine what happened to make the crying or screaming child become immediately silent.”
A school friend who played at the flat around 2021 said she had noticed locks on the doors of the outside of the kids’ bedrooms and the kitchen, which appeared to be chain locks.
Jurors were told the locks were “quite high up, so that the adults could reach them but the children could not”.
Ms Spencer said she heard bangs as if someone had been hit or smacked and internal doors were constantly being slammed.
She moved out of the property in March 2020.
New neighbour Ms Redwin then moved into the property in September later the same year.
She told of hearing smacking followed by “gut-wrenching screams” of young female children, over which Batool would shout “shut up”.
She claims a man, thought to be Malik, moved into the house in December 2022 and would be in the property when the screams were going on.
Jurors were also told that Sara began wearing a hijab in January 2023, just before they moved into their new property in Woking three months later.
Mr Emlyn Jones said: “The prosecution suggest the fact that Sara began to wear the hijab around this time is indicative of the need to conceal injuries to her face and head from the outside world.”
Neighbour Brenin Lozeron said he never saw any physical discipline or injuries, but would not have known because Sara was always covered up.
Sara’s school noted a bruise on her chin along with a dark mark on her right eye on March 10, 202, both of which were only visible when Sara’s head scarf was removed.
One of her friends also said she noticed some cuts and bruises on her face, but Sara did not attend school the next day and was later taken out to be home-schooled.
Evidence found that Sara was kept restrained includes an Amazon order for 12 rolls of parcel tape on July 19, 2023, before another six were purchased nine days earlier, the court heard
Mr Emlyn Jones said: “You can now look again at the bruises and broken bones Sara had suffered with a clearer understanding of how those injuries appear to have been inflicted.”
He added: “They have a clear impression of having been caused not with fists and feet, but with an object.
“In addition to the objects we have been looking at, the police found a plastic coated metal pole in that brick outhouse.
“An expert had compared the size and shape of that pole to photographs of some of Sara’s bruising.
“His conclusion is that the pole does appear to be a candidate for having been used to cause those particular bruises.
“He also considered the buckle of the belt we looked at also to be capable of having caused some of the bruises.”
Police were alerted to Sara’s death after receiving a call from Pakistan at 2.47am on August 10 last year, jurors have been told.
The court heard her dad Urfan told the 999 operator: “I’ve killed my daughter. I legally punished her, and she died.”
Cops subsequently found her dead in a bunk bed within an upstairs bedroom.
Jurors were told Sara had died two days before she was found.
The three defendants are charged with murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between December 16, 2022, and August 9, 2023.
They each deny both offences.
Urfan blames his wife for Sara’s death and says his confession was to protect her, the court heard.
Batool accuses Urfan of being a violent disciplinarian and she was fearful of her husband, Mr Emlyn Jones said.
Malik’s case is that he was not responsible and was unaware of what was going on, the prosecutor added.
The trial, expected to last two months, continues.