Sara Sharif had unexplained fractures in 25 locations on body, court hears

Sara Sharif had unexplained fractures in 25 locations on her body which were most likely caused by “multiple episodes of blunt force trauma inflicted over several weeks”, a court has heard.

Warning: This story contains details readers may find distressing

The 10-year-old suffered more than 70 injuries shortly before she was found dead in her home in Woking, Surrey, on 10 August last year, jurors were previously told.

Sara’s father minicab driver Urfan Sharif, 42, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of his daughter’s murder, alongside Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and 29-year-old uncle Faisal Malik.

Consultant paediatric radiologist Professor Owen Arthurs told jurors on Friday that in his opinion, most of Sara’s fractures “were very unusual and they cannot be explained by an accidental mechanism nor can they be explained as any single high impact trauma event”.

Professor Arthurs highlighted fractures to Sara’s hand and the vertebrae in her spine, as well as the hyoid in her neck, which he said was “extremely rare”.

“I have not ever seen a hyoid fracture in a child even in those where we have a very good history of ligature strangulation.

“The most likely case here is manual strangulation with a degree of force above that which we would commonly recognise in ligature strangulation – hanging.”

Of the fractures in her spine, Professor Arthurs said they were likely caused by “high-velocity impact or multiple trauma”, and that spinal fractures are “very rare” and usually caused by road traffic accidents or falling from a height.

There were also fractures to Sara’s right clavicle, both shoulder blades, ribs and right elbow, the court heard.

“There is no evidence that Sara was suffering from any underlying bone abnormality as far as the imaging is concerned,” Prof Arthurs said.

“My opinion is that the most likely explanation for the constellation of injuries – including location, pattern, severity, healing pattern and some refractures – are multiple episodes of blunt force trauma inflicted over several weeks.”

X-ray images of the different fractures were shown to jurors. The court also heard estimations of when each injury occurred – ranging from less than 10 days to 12 weeks before Sara’s death.

Earlier in the trial, jurors heard that a pathologist who carried out a post-mortem examination on Sara’s body gave the girl’s cause of death as “complications arising from multiple injuries and neglect”.

Forensic pathologist Dr Nathaniel Cary previously told the court that some of Sara’s external injuries, which included dozens of bruises, grazes and burns, were the result of “repetitive blunt trauma” and “blunt impact or solid pressure, or both”.

Her injuries included significant damage internally, including bleeding on her brain, multiple bruises on her lungs and several skeletal injuries, jurors were told.

No natural diseases or drugs had contributed to Sara’s death, the court heard.

The prosecution previously told jurors the 10-year-old had suffered “probable human bite marks”, a burn from a domestic iron and scalding from hot water.

Sara’s body was found in a bunk bed in her home after her father phoned police from Pakistan saying he “beat her up too much” for being “naughty”.

It is alleged Sara had died two days before the call and the defendants had booked flights out of the country within hours of her death.

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The three defendants, of Hammond Road in Woking, have denied murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between 16 December 2022 and 9 August 2023.

The trial continues on Monday.