Sara Sharif’s stepmother would not call 999, jury told

The father of 10-year-old Sara Sharif told a court he gave his daughter CPR after she died and that his wife refused to call for an ambulance.

Urfan Sharif said he came home on the evening of 8 August last year to find Beinash Batool sitting on the floor in the couple’s bedroom, holding Sara.

Police found Sara’s body with dozens of injuries at the family’s home in Woking, Surrey, two days later.

Mr Sharif, 42, Ms Batool, 30, and Sara’s uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, have denied murder at the Old Bailey.

Giving evidence, Sara’s father said Ms Batool told him the girl had fallen down the stairs while playing with another child, and that now she was “pretending” and “being dramatic”.

Mr Sharif said he told Sara to “get up” and took her arm, but it was limp.

“Then I took Sara from Beinash’s lap,” he said.

“[Sara] whispered and opened her mouth a bit. [Sara] said she is thirsty and she needs water.”

Mr Sharif told the jury that he called for water and put Sara on the bed, but his wife told him to put her on the floor.

“I shouted for an ambulance because I could not hear her breathing, I checked her pulse under the ear, it was none. I had done my first aid training two times,” he said.

He said that he gave Sara CPR for more than ten minutes but Ms Batool told him to stop.

Mr Sharif said that when he asked where the ambulance was, Ms Batool replied: “It’s no point. There’s no need because she’s dead.”

Mr Sharif said he noticed a red mark around Sara’s neck, and at this point Ms Batool told a “second story” claiming Sara had been fighting with another child.

Defence barrister Naeem Mian KC asked, “Why didn’t you call the police?”

Mr Sharif replied: “I was thinking about the other kids. They are going to be taken into care. [The child] is going to go to prison.”

He told the court: “So much was going on under my nose and I didn’t know it.”

That evening, Ms Batool called a travel agent to start the process of booking flights for the whole family, apart from Sara, to go to Pakistan, Mr Sharif said. They left the country the next day.

Hours after Sara had died, Ms Batool also showed Mr Sharif on her phone the difference between murder and manslaughter, jurors heard.

“She is very good at Googling stuff,” Mr Sharif said.

He also told jurors that there was a discussion as to whether Mr Sharif should take the blame for Sara’s death. He added that Ms Batool wanted Mr Malik to take the blame as he had no responsibilities.

When police arrived at the house after Mr Sharif had called from Pakistan, there was a handwritten note by Sara’s body that read: “Whoever see this note it’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating.”

The jury has been told that Ms Batool and Mr Sharif dispute each other’s version of events.

The court previously heard that Sara was hooded, burned and beaten during more than two years of abuse.

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.

Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC previously said a bloodstained cricket bat, a rolling pin with Sara’s DNA on it, a metal pole, a belt and rope were found near the family’s outhouse.

The three defendants, who lived with Sara in Woking before her death, are also charged with causing or allowing the death of a child, which they deny.