Sara Sharif‘s father will be in the ‘circles of hell for eternity’ for what he inflicted upon his daughter, his own barrister has told his murder trial jury.
Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, alongside his wife Beinash Batool, 30, are charged with murdering the 10-year-old in August last year.
Speaking before the Old Bailey today, Sharif’s lawyer, Naaem Mian KC, branded him ‘a scumbag’ but claimed it was his wife who was ultimately the only one there when Sara died.
Following the pair’s arrest, Sharif had initially apportioned the blame to Batool for Sara’s death, but on the seventh day of his evidence Sharif made a dramatic u-turn and accepted ‘full responsibility’ for Sara’s death.
Admitting that he beat his daughter with a cricket bat and metal pole days before she died, Sharif claimed he never meant to harm her.
The taxi driver was also accused by the prosecution of placing a hood over Sara’s head and then biting and burning her with a hot iron and boiling water during a horrific onslaught of abuse.
Now, in his defence’s closing speech, Sharif’s lawyer attempted to obfuscate his client’s responsibility by stating that only Batool knew the absolute truth behind Sara’s death.
Mr Mian KC told jurors today: ‘It’s so difficult to try and untangle all of this and see what people are saying because the only person who can say what happened on the Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday when Sara is in her arms is her’.
Sara Sharif ‘s father will be in the ‘circles of hell for eternity’ for what he inflicted upon his daughter, his own barrister has told his murder trial jury
Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, is charged with murdering the 10-year-old in August last year.
His wife Beinash Batool (pictured), 30, is also charged with murder
On his client’s shock admissions, Mr Kian KC said: ‘It came as a total surprise to me and I have no doubt it came as a total surprise to you. According to the press you were all open mouthed.’
Sharif’s lawyer went on: ‘What happened to Sara was awful and that must be the understatement of the year. It was savage, it was brutal.
‘You may think quite rightly and deservedly so that that man will never forgive himself. He will be in the circles of hell for eternity.
‘He’s undoubtedly guilty of something but the question for you members of the jury is of what and that’s something you’ve got to unpack yourselves’.
Sharif himself went on to admit that he had been a ‘cruel father’ and a ‘selfish man’ and that he had in fact beaten his daughter with a cricket bat.
Although he claims that this abuse occurred ‘once or twice’ and that he had no intention of seriously harming Sara.
Sharif’s lawyer added that the fracture injuries Sara sustained from these beatings were healing by the time of her death and were not a ‘significant contributory factor’.
Mr Mian KC went on to discuss the uncertainty which remains around Sara’s death when stepmother Batool called Sharif home.
Mr Mian said: ‘We don’t know why it is Sara was in her (Batool’s) lap when Mr Sharif returned.
‘We don’t know why there are blood spots in the kitchen downstairs because the only person who can say what actually happened on August 8 is Batool and she has not told you.’
Sara Sharif, whose body was found under a blanket in a bunk bed at her home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10
Pictured, the moment Faisal Malik, 29, was arrested by police at Gatwick Airport, captured on bodycam footage
The Old Bailey heard horrific details of the extent of her injuries which included dozens of broken bones, bites, burns and part of her finger had been cut out with a sharp instrument
Court artist drawing by Elizabeth Cook of Sarah Sharif’s father Urfan Sharif (right) her uncle Faisal Malik (left), and stepmother Beinash Batool (centre), sitting alongside dock officers today at the Old Bailey
The family home in Woking, Surrey, where the body of 10-year-old Sara Sharif was found
During proceedings, the court was shown pictures of the family’s Surrey home
The court was then told how Batool made 30 calls to her family instead of calling emergency services, a fact which remains a mystery to investigators.
Mr Mian KC went on to infer that social services, the police and the family courts system all shared blame in Sara death’s, stating that they knew about the past accusations levelled against Sharif and yet failed to prevent him from gaining custody of Sara.
Caroline Carberry KC rejected Sharif’s depiction of his wife as an evil psycho, saying the only psychopath in the courtroom was him.
In her speech on behalf of Batool, Ms Carberry said: ‘The sole perpetrator of the violence that led to Sara’s death is Urfan Sharif.’
She referenced his admissions under cross-examination that he hit Sara in the face and head repeatedly with a bat and pole two days before her death.
Ms Carberry said: ‘When he realised he had in fact admitted murder having answered a series of straightforward questions and long before he became overwrought, he then desperately and implausibly backtracked after consultation with his legal team’.
Describing Sharif as a ‘comfortable liar’ and manipulator, Ms Carberry told the jury that they could not trust anything he had said since his initial confession.
Ms Carberry concluded her speech by quoting Sara’s teachers, who had expressed her ‘spirited, bold and fierce’ nature.
She said: ‘No doubt that spirit, that boldness from his daughter was what Urfan Sharif tried to silence with his beating, control, cruel punishment and degrading treatment of her.
‘Terrorising not just Sara but everyone else who lived under the roof with him’.
Both defendants have denied the charges of murder, causing or allowing the death of a child and the alternative offence of manslaughter.
The Old Bailey trial continues.