A note that was allegedly found by Sara Sharif’s body in her father’s handwriting has been pictured in court.
Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of his 10-year-old daughter’s murder alongside Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 29.
It is alleged within hours of her death the defendants had booked a flight out of the country.
Police found Sara’s body in a bunk bed in her home in Woking, Surrey, on 10 August last year following a call from Sharif in Pakistan saying he “beat her up too much” for being “naughty”, the court has heard.
On arrival at the 10-year-old’s family home, police found the property was quiet, very tidy and seemingly empty before discovering her body next to a note in her father’s handwriting, the Old Bailey heard.
Police constable George Van Der Waart told the court he said he entered through an unlocked rear door and found the downstairs clean with no signs of any disturbance.
He discovered Sara’s body on a bunk bed in an upstairs bedroom with a fan switched on, he added.
A note in Sharif’s handwriting was tucked under one of the pillows by her head, the court heard.
The note allegedly stated: “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.
“I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her but I lost it. My daughter is Muslim. Can you burry (sic) her like Muslim may be. I will be back before you finish the post-mortem.”
On Tuesday, jurors were also told Sara’s father sobbed as he confessed to killing his daughter, saying “I’m a cruel father” in a phone call to police.
The police non-emergency 101 number had received the call at 2.47am on August 10 2023, two days after Sara died, the court heard.
During the call from Pakistan, which lasted eight minutes and 34 seconds, the taxi driver can be heard crying as he confessed to killing his daughter, refusing to reveal his location and saying he would hand himself in to Woking police station.
In the phone call, an emotional Sharif asked the operator to write down his address, spelling out his postcode, and telling them to “send someone” to his home on Hammond Road, Woking.
In the recording, Sharif said Sara had been “naughty” over the last three to four weeks and he was “giving her punishment” to “sort her out”, adding “I did something and she died”.
Earlier in the call, the operator can be heard asking Sharif “is everything okay?” to which he responds: “Nothing is okay.”
At one point, Sharif can be heard getting so emotional that the operator says he cannot understand what he is saying and tells him to “take a deep breath”.
Sharif continued: “I did legally punish my daughter and she died.
“I left the home in a panic.
“I killed my daughter. I killed my daughter.”
All three defendants, of Hammond Road in Woking, have denied Sara’s murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between 16 December 2022 and 9 August 2023.
The Old Bailey trial continues.
