Schoolgirl Sara Sharif was forced to wear “homemade hoods” of plastic bags and parcel tape as she endured a campaign of abuse which lasted up to two years, a court heard.
The 10-year-old’s blood was found on a cricket bat and a vacuum cleaner at the family home, jurors at the Old Bailey were told.
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC also alleged that bruises found on her body matched a belt buckle and plastic-coated metal pole found in an outhouse at the property – where police also found a rolling pin with traces of her DNA.
Neighbour Chloe Redwin, who lived in the flat above the family at their previous address in 2020, heard sounds of “smacking” from their home.
“They were shockingly loud and would be followed by ‘gut-wrenching screams’ of young female children,” Mr Emlyn Jones told the jury.
“Over the screaming, she would hear the mother shout, ‘shut up’ and sometimes the sounds of further smacking would be heard followed by shouting.”
The same neighbour said she would often hear children screaming, followed by their mother shouting “Shut the f*** up” and “Go to your room you f****** bastard”, the court heard.
“Ms Redwin would also frequently hear the mother refer to the children as ‘c****’,” the prosecutor said.
She said she often said hello to Sara’s father, who worked as a minicab driver, and that she thought he was “conscious of the noise his family made because on occasions he would apologise for it”.
A note with handwriting matching Mr Sharif’s was found by her body. It stated: “I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her. But I lost it. I am running away because I am scared.”
Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 42, stepmother Beinash Batool, 29, and uncle Faisal Malik, 28, each deny murdering the 10-year-old and causing or allowing her death.
Police discovered Sara’s body at her home in Woking, Surrey, on 10 August last year following a 999 call from Mr Sharif – who had already fled to Pakistan with the other defendants.
He told the operator he had “legally punished” Sara for being “naughty” as he sobbed: “I’m a cruel father.”
A police officer discovered the schoolgirl’s lifeless body placed under a neat white sheet on a bunk bed. A post-mortem examination found she had suffered dozens of injuries including “probable human bite marks”, an iron burn and scalding from hot water.
On the second day of the trial, jurors were told Ms Batool had purchased 18 rolls of parcel tape in the month before Sara’s death.
Police later found “strange-looking objects” in wheelie bins at the property that were “plastic bags wrapped up with parcel tape” – some of which had traces of Sara’s blood on, Mr Emlyn Jones said.
He continued: “The prosecution suggest that it is in fact obvious what these items were.
“They are homemade hoods. They had been placed over Sara’s head, we suggest, and then taped in place.”
The trial heard that forensic tests found fingerprints belonging to her father, Mr Sharif, on one of the bags and a bit of parcel tape.
In WhatsApp messages sent to her sisters documenting two years of abuse, stepmother Ms Batool said Mr Sharif had beaten Sara “black”.
In May 2021, she messaged her sister: “Urfan beat the crap out of Sara. She’s covered in bruises, literally beaten black.
“I feel really sorry for Sara, poor girl can’t walk. I really want to report him.”
However, the prosecution alleges Ms Batool, Mr Sharif, and his brother Mr Malik, a McDonald’s worker, all played a part in Sara’s death.
Mr Emlyn Jones told jurors: “As a minimum, it shows that Sara was being hurt and injured as long ago as spring of 2021 – so that is more than two years before her death – and that Beinash Batool was aware and even on her version of events, she didn’t stop it.”
In February 2022, the court heard she told another sister that Mr Sharif was “beating Sara up ... ‘cos she’s being naughty”, adding: “Something happens to Sara I will not be able to forgive myself.”
That summer Ms Batool complained that she could not cover up the bruises, saying: “He beat Sara up yesterday and I can’t send her to school on Monday looking like that.”
The following January Sara started wearing a hijab to school, despite being the only female in her household to wear one.
The prosecutor alleged this was because they needed to “conceal injuries to her face and head from the outside world”.
The court heard that Sara’s primary school noticed a bruise under her left eye in June 2022 as well as a bruise on her chin and a dark mark on her right eye in March 2023, the court heard.
When asked by a teacher about the latest injuries, the child “acted coy and tried to hide them”, Mr Elwyn Jones said. “[The teacher] observed that Sara would often pull her hijab to hide her face if she did not want to speak or was being told off. Sara gave multiple conflicting stories as to how she got the bruises.”
Sara was taken out of school in April 2023 and died four months later.
Another neighbour reported hearing a “single high-pitched scream” which lasted a couple of seconds and then suddenly stopped two days before Sara’s death on 8 August.
Mr Sharif, Ms Batool and Mr Malik fled to Pakistan the following day, leaving Sara’s remains alone in the family home.
After intense media interest in the case, the trio returned on a flight to the UK on 13 September and were arrested and charged with Sara’s murder.
Each of the defendants denies murder, with jurors told that they were seeking to “deflect the blame” onto the others. The prosecution alleges all three defendants “played their part” in the violence and that it was “inconceivable” that just one of them had acted alone.
The trial before Mr Justice Cavanagh continues.
