Sara Sharif penned tragic letters begging for forgiveness from her father and insisting she had the ‘best family’ before he beat her to death, a court heard on Wednesday.
The 10-year-old schoolgirl wrote a series of desperate letters and cards saying she was ‘sorry’ for being rude to her father Urfan, 42, who has admitted he used to tie her up with parcel tape and beat her with a cricket bat or metal pole.
After years of alleged torture and abuse including being burned with an iron, hooded with a plastic bag and bitten, Sara attempted to win the favour of Sharif and her stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, calling her the ‘best, caring and loving mother in the world.’
Prosecutor Ben Lloyd told jurors that Sara penned a handwritten letter to the pair: ‘To Amei (Sara’s nickname for Batool) and Dad, I am sorry that I was rude and not loving…, Sara your daughter.
‘I am sorry for my answering back and what I said.
‘I am sorry that I just sat.. not learning.
‘Please forgive me, I am so, so sorry.’
The victim was found dead in her bunk bed at home in Woking, Surrey after Sharif and Batool fled to Pakistan where he made a 999 call on August 10 last year confessing: ‘I killed my daughter’.
Jurors have heard Sara (pictured) suffered dozens of injuries, including burns from an iron, human bite marks and signs of restraint, before she died
Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool are currently standing trial at the Old Bailey accused of her murder after a campaign of abuse
The family home in Woking, Surrey, where the body of 10-year-old Sara Sharif was found
Police later found Sara’s letters and cards including one that said: ”To dad, happy birthday. I love you so much.
‘Thank you for looking after us on the weekends and making food for us at weekends. Thank you dad.
‘Our family is the best in town, we spread love around the world.’
In a school exercise book, she composed a short fairytale story in which Sara was a princess and Batool a ‘queen’.
She wrote: ‘Hi my name is Sara Sharif and I have lots of people in my family, Amei my mum, who is beautiful and young and Dad, my father who earns money for us so we can eat, sleep and have shelter.’
Last week Sharif admitted to being responsible for Sara’s death, saying he had beaten her repeatedly with a cricket bat, metal pole, battered her with a mobile phone and throttled her with his hands.
Sara was found to have suffered at least 71 external injuries, including 25 broken bones, bite marks to her arm and thigh, iron burns on her buttocks and scalding to her feet.
Sara Sharif, whose body was found under a blanket in a bunk bed at her home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10
Pictured, the moment Faisal Malik, 29, was arrested by police at Gatwick Airport, captured on bodycam footage
Sharif, Batool, and Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik (pictured), 29, deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child
During proceedings, the court was shown pictures of the families Surrey home
The Old Bailey heard yesterday that Sharif had previously been accused of domestic abuse by his ex-wife Olga Sharif and two former girlfriends.
He had been arrested on suspicion of false imprisonment, theft, criminal damage and common assault, but was never prosecuted.
Sharif, Batool and Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik, 29, deny murder and causing or allowing her death.
Yesterday Mr Justice Cavanagh told jurors they could also consider an alternative offence of manslaughter for each of the defendants.
The trial continues.
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