London
Associated Press
—
The father and stepmother of a badly abused 10-year-old girl found dead in her home in England were sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for murder.
Urfan Sharif, 42, and Beinash Batool, 30, were convicted last week of Sara Sharif's murder in what prosecutors described as a “campaign of abuse.”
The girl's uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, was found guilty of causing or allowing the girl's death. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
After the girl died, the three fled to Pakistan, where Urfan Sharif called British police and said he had “punished her legally and she died,” prosecutors said. He said he “beat her up too much” but had no intention of killing her.
Police in London then went to the family home and discovered Sara's body under a blanket in a bunk bed on August 10, 2023.
The three returned to Britain more than a month after fleeing and were arrested on suspicion of murder.
The trial at the Central Criminal Court brought to light horrifying details of the abuse, including more than 70 fresh and many older injuries, including bruises, burns, fractures and bite marks, and raised questions about the failure of social services and authorities to intervene and protect them .
“Sara's death was the culmination of years of neglect, frequent assault and what can only be described as the torture of this young child,” Judge John Cavanagh said. “The extent of the cruelty is almost unimaginable… None of you have shown even a hint of genuine remorse.”
Politicians and other officials called for a review of the mistakes and pushed for reforms to prevent such cases from happening again.
“Her death is a heartbreaking reminder of the profound weaknesses in our child protection system that we as a country have consistently failed to address,” Rachel de Souza, children’s commissioner for England, said in a statement after the trial. “We've been here before – and every time we said: 'Never again'.”
Following the trial, family court documents were released showing that Urfan Sharif and his former wife Olga Sharif were on social services' radar three years before Sara Sharif's birth.
The father and stepmother were given custody of Sara and her older brother after reports that their mother had abused them.
Despite allegations that Urfan Sharif physically abused his children, the allegations were never tested in court.
Surrey County Council, which has repeatedly raised concerns that Sara was likely physically and emotionally abused by her parents, plans to review the circumstances of her death. Childcare had investigated after her school reported that Sara was injured, but the agency took no further action.
Her father later took her out of school to prevent authorities from discovering the abuse, the judge said. She was not homeschooled.
Olga Sharif described her daughter's murderers as cowards, sadists and executioners in a statement read out by a prosecutor.
“I can’t understand how someone could be such a sadist towards a child,” she said. “She is now an angel looking down on us from heaven, she no longer experiences violence.”
During the trial, Sharif initially blamed Batool for Sara's death, but later told jurors that he took “full responsibility.” He admitted choking her with his hands and hitting her with a cricket bat and other objects.
Prosecutors said the violence had become so normalized that when she showed up at a family barbecue with bruises, no one responded.
Her parents forced her to wear a hijab – not for religious reasons, but to “cover the bruises all over Sara's body,” Cavanagh said.
Sara was described as lively and dreamed of being a fairytale princess. Her spirit was expressed in a video recorded two days before her death, showing her dancing at home despite multiple broken bones and iron burns on her bottom.
“Despite everything, she smiled at the camera,” the judge noted.
