Sara Sharif’s father has denied beating the 10-year-old, claiming that his wife was the “crazy” one in the house and had “black magic” done on her.
Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, his wife Beinash Batool, 30, and brother Faisal Malik, 29, are on trial at the Old Bailey accused of Sara’s murder on August 8 last year.
Giving evidence on Wednesday, Sharif said: “Everything happened at home while I was at work.
“I did not beat her, do anything to her.”
He denied Batool’s claims in WhatsApp messages to her sisters that he had beaten Sara up “like crazy” over at least two years.
Sharif told jurors that Batool was “very, very crazy”, pointing to video evidence she had abused him and forced him to jump out of a window to escape.
Asked about the state of their relationship, he said: “It’s never been good.
“We always had issues between me and her and we were only living together because of the family.”
Jurors were shown two video clips from Sharif’s Google drive allegedly filmed as evidence of Batool’s abusive behaviour towards him.
Sharif became emotional as he told jurors: “I used to jump through the kitchen window as she would lock the front door.
“Most of the time when she was angry I jumped through the living room window.”
Sharif said he made a video on February 28 2016 after Batool accused him of flirting with a hospital nurse and began “physically abusing” him.
In the video, Sharif could be heard saying: “You are pushing me. You are abusing me. Get off me.
“You are hitting me. I’m going to use this as evidence I’m telling you now.”
Batool repeatedly demanded he stop filming saying: “I ain’t scared of you.”
On what the video showed, Sharif told jurors: “She kicked me. I ran to the other room, she is standing in front of the door so I cannot leave.”
In second video dated June 26 2019, Sharif was heard to repeatedly ask Batool to “let me go” before jumping out of a window.
Sharif told jurors Batool “slapped” him adding: “You have a choice either to fight with that person or leave.
“I tried to leave but she locked the front door. I jumped through the kitchen window.”
Asked why he recorded the incidents, Sharif said that he did it “so that she leave me alone” and “stop what she was doing”.
He added that she was “very, very crazy”, did not “care about anything at all”, and her family told him “someone has done black magic on her”.
Sara was found dead in bed at her home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10 2023 after Sharif called police from Pakistan to report he had beaten her “too much”.
A post-mortem examination found dozens of injuries, including burns and human bite marks.
Defence barrister Naeem Mian KC observed there was nothing in any of Batool’s WhatsApp messages alleging Sharif had burnt his daughter, put a hood on her or hit her with a cricket bat or pole.
Sharif was asked about a text message with Batool in February 2022 about Sara cutting his shoelaces.
He told her that both she and Sara had made his life “hell” and that she should “sort” Sara out before he did.
The accused wrote that neither of them could be “trusted”, adding: “I am done with you and now it will be her turn if she does anything silly”.
Mr Mian asked: “Is this message you threatening to beat Sara up?”
Sharif denied this, saying he only wanted to talk to Sara and that he planned to leave his wife after finding out she had lied to him for many years.
On WhatsApps between Batool and her sister Qandeela about taking Sara out of school in June 2022, Mr Mian said: “The suggestion in the messages is that Sara has been beaten so badly you’ve suggested she be covered up with make-up, do you agree?”
Sharif replied: “That’s what she’s saying.”
Mr Mian said: “Are you able to help us with why Qandeela, having heard Sara has been beaten up so badly, would respond ‘LOL’ – laugh out loud – ‘it was going to happen you can tell’?
“Qandeela is the aunt of Sara. Qandeela, according to these messages, knows that Sara has been beaten so badly that she’s bruised by you and the response from Qandeela is ‘laugh out loud’.”
Mr Mian asked if Sharif knew why neither of the woman called police.
Sharif replied: “They should have if I was doing that.”
The defendants, formerly of Hammond Road, Woking, have denied murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between December 16 2022 and August 9 2023.
