Sara Sharif’s father tells jurors he ‘takes full responsibility’ for her death
Sara Sharif’s father – who is accused of her murder – has told jurors he “takes full responsibility” for the death of his daughter.
Minicab driver Urfan Sharif, 42, called police in the early hours of 10 August last year saying he had beaten her “too much” for being “naughty”, the court previously heard.
The 10-year-old’s body was found in a bunkbed at the family home in Woking, Surrey, with dozens of injuries, including bruises, burns, broken bones and bite marks, after he and the rest of the family had fled to Pakistan.
Sharif is on trial alongside Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle Faisal Malik, 29, at the Old Bailey in central London.
They all deny murder and an alternative charge of causing or allowing her death.
Sharif said he had initially taken responsibility to save his family, but giving evidence in court blamed his wife for killing his daughter, saying he was out working when she was abused.
He told jurors on Wednesday: “I accept every single thing.”
He made the admission under cross-examination from Batool’s barrister Caroline Carberry KC as his wife sobbed in the dock.
Ms Carberry asked him about a handwritten note left next to his daughter’s body in which he wrote: “Love you Sara.
“Whoever see this note it’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating. I am running away because I am scared but I promise that I will hand over myself and take punishment.”
Ms Carberry asked if he did kill his daughter by beating and Sharif replied: “Yes, she died because of me.”
She suggested: “In the weeks before she died she suffered multiple fractures to her body, didn’t she, and it was you who inflicted those injuries?”
“Yes,” Sharif replied, before accepting causing Sara’s injuries apart from the burn and bite marks.
“I take responsibility. I take full responsibility,” he said, admitting to causing at least 25 fractures by hitting Sara with a cricket bat or pole and breaking her hyoid neck bone.
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Ms Carberry said: “I suggest on the night of the 6 August you badly beat Sara.”
Speaking barely above a whisper in the witness box, Sharif replied: “I accept everything.”
After a short break, Ms Carberry asked: “Do you accept that you killed her by beating her? Do you accept you had been beating Sara severely over a number of weeks?
“Do you accept using the cricket bat to beat her? Do you accept using the cricket bat as a weapon on her on a number of occasions? Do you accept that you used that cricket bat on her with force?”
Sharif replied: “Yes ma’am.”
He also agreed when asked if he hit her intending to cause Sara “really serious harm” – the legal definition of murder.
Ms Carberry said: “You have pleaded not guilty to the offence of murder. Would you like that charge to be put to you again?”
Sharif replied: “Yeah,” but following a break the cross-examination continued as he insisted: “I didn’t intend to kill her.”
The barrister suggested: “When you confirmed earlier today you beat her to death and you intended to cause her really serious harm that was an admission to the offence of murder.”
Sharif said: “I did not want to hurt her. I didn’t want to harm her.”
Ms Carberry asked: “Do you accept that your beating of her caused her death?”
“Yes,” said Sharif.
But this time he answered “no” when she asked him: “Do you accept by beating her in the way that you did you intended to cause her really serious harm?”
The trial continues.