Stepmother and uncle of Sara Sharif refuse to testify in murder trial

The stepmother and uncle of beaten-to-death Sara Sharif have declined to give evidence to their Old Baily murder trial.

Jurors were told they may “draw their own conclusions” after Beinash Batool, 30, and Faisal Malik, 29, both opted not to take to the witness stand to face questions from defence and prosecution barristers.

The decision came after Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 42, spent several days in the witness box blaming Batool for Sara’s death before telling jurors he had “no credibility” left and accepted “full responsibility, adding he was the “worst parent on the planet”.

Sharif described his parenting as “very bad” and accepted he was unkind and cruel under cross-examination at the Old Bailey.

The court previously heard that Sara was hooded, burned and beaten during more than two years of abuse before she was found dead at her family home in Woking, Surrey, last year.

Police raced to the property and found the 10-year-old’s battered body in her bunkbed after the three defendants fled to Pakistan before Sharif made a 999 call to tell officers his daughter was dead. She had suffered at least 25 fractures and 71 external injuries.

The trio were arrested after spending weeks as fugitives before flying back to London’s Gatwick Airport.

Sharif, Batool and uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, all deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.

A post-mortem examination found Sara had suffered dozens of injuries including “probable human bite marks”, an iron burn and scalding from hot water before she died on 8 August 2023.

Sharif agreed that violence to Sara had become “normalised” at times in the house, but he said his brother Malik – who lived with the family – was unaware of Sara being beaten at home.

The prosecution challenged Mr Sharif about how others in the small three-bedroom home were unaware of violence to Sara but cab driver Sharif insisted: “Everything was separate from Faisal.”

He was also quizzed about a burn to Sara’s buttocks and bite marks, which he denies causing.

Bill Emelyn Jones KC prosecuting said: “To do that to Sara, to press and hold the iron across both her buttocks, two people had to do that?

Sharif replied: “I don’t know how it happened.”

Earlier in his evidence Sharif had attempted to blame Batool, claiming the abuse had occurred whilst he was out at work.

But he then dramatically told the jury that he took “full responsibility” for his daughter’s death but denied murder claiming he “did not mean to harm her” when he bound and beat her with a cricket bat.

He sobbed: “She died because of me”.

The trial continues.