Sara Sharif’s father has told a court his “evil and psycho” wife made him slap the 10-year-old girl, and claimed she tied up his daughter with tape.
Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, his wife Beinash Batool and brother Faisal Malik are on trial at the Old Bailey accused of Sara’s murder in August last year.
Sara was found dead in bed at the family’s home in Woking, Surrey, after Sharif called police from Pakistan and said he had beaten her “too much”.
A post-mortem found dozens of injuries, including burns and human bite marks.
Warning: This article contains details readers may find distressing
Speaking in court on Thursday, Sharif claimed he once came home to find Sara with her arms bound behind her back with packaging tape in the television room.
He said Batool appeared “shocked” to see him, and told the court: “I screamed. I was angry, I was annoyed.
“She, Sara, was terrified. She was scared. She didn’t say much. I hugged her, I kissed her, then me and Beinash went into the kitchen.
“She apologised to me and she promised that she wouldn’t do it again.”
Sharif then told the court he had cut his daughter free with a knife from the kitchen and said he was “an idiot” for not calling the police.
The taxi driver then denied Batool’s repeated claims to her sister that he was “beating the crap” out of Sara.
He did however admit to slapping his daughter “multiple times” when his wife told him she was “playing up”.
Sharif claimed “I was made to” slap Sara as Batool “was blaming my daughter”, and added: “I should not have believed her. I never knew I was living with evil and psycho.”
Read more from the trial:
Father claims he ‘jumped through window’ to escape abuse
Sara’s stepmother cries as video shows girl dancing ‘days before murder’
Video shows moment Sara’s family detained on plane
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Sharif then denied hitting Sara with a white pole, biting her or putting a homemade hood over her head.
He said about the bite marks on Sara: “I didn’t do it, Faisal didn’t do it… Who else was at home?”
Defence barrister Naeem Mian KC noted to jurors evidence that only Batool had refused to give her dental impressions to compare with the marks on Sara’s body.
Sharif also said he found out his daughter was wearing a diaper last July from Batool, who said the girl “could not control her bladder” and that it was “normal”.
He denied branding Sara on her bottom with an iron, and told the court he did not see bruises on her body as she wore a hijab, long sleeves and leggings at home. He also claimed he never saw her in pain or unable to move.
On the day of Sara’s death, Sharif said he received a call from Batool telling him to “come home,” to which he said he was “driving not flying” and would be back in 15 to 20 minutes.
He said he was not “burning with anger to get home” and said he had stopped to buy cigarettes or a vape from a Co-op on the way.
Sharif, 42, Batool, 30, and Malik, 29, deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between 16 December 2022 and 9 August 2023.
The trial continues.
