Sara Sharif’s stepmother was heard “shouting” towards Sara Sharif as far back as 2018, a neighbour has told the Old Bailey.
Beinash Batool would allegedly lose her temper and was heard using foul language to speak to the 10-year-old, while a door “rattling” was heard as if someone had been locked in a bedroom.
The trial of three family members accused of murdering schoolgirl Sara Sharif has resumed on Wednesday, with a number of neighbours set to give evidence.
Jurors have been told of a “campaign of abuse” against Sara, which left her with over 70 injuries and 25 different fractures, include a broken bone in her neck.
She was discovered dead in a bunkbed at the family home in Woking, after her father Urfan Sharif contacted Surrey Police from Pakistan on 10 August last year to say he had “beat her up too much”
Sharif, 42, her stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and her uncle Faisal Malik, 29, have all denied her murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between 16 December 2022 and 9 August 2023.
Key Points
- Neighbour had heard ‘banging’ and screaming as far back as 2018
- Swearing and gut-wrenching screams allegedly heard from family home
- The key dates in Sara Sharif’s tragic death
Stepmother said Sara ‘wanted to follow her religion’ with hijab
15:16 , Holly EvansChloe Redwin has told jurors that she noticed Sara Sharif had begun wearing a hijab around January 2023, shortly before the family left the flat and moved to Woking.
She added she had never seen it before and that no other female family members had been seen to wear one.
When she complimented the headscarf to Beinash Batool, she told jurors that the conversation had been “shut down in quite an aggressive way”.
She recalled that Batool had responded: “She has decided to wear one, she wants to follow her religion”.
The prosecution are claiming that the hijab was used to cover the extent of Sara’s injuries in the months before her death.
Sara Sharif’s father walks out in tears as neighbour recalls ‘smacking' at flat
14:57 , Holly EvansThe court has briefly taken a break after Urfan Sharif, Sara’s father, broke down in tears and walked out of the dock.
It came as a second neighbour told the court that she had frequently heard a “smacking” noise followed by a scream when Beinash Batool was at the property.
Chloe Redwin, who lived above the family, said: “I heard what I believe to be smacking. I would say it was a person smacking another person. It was loud. A smack followed by a scream and being told to go to your room.”
She also recalled that on the occasional weekend Sharif was home and not working over the weekend, he would play with the children outside and was seen on a picnic rug with ice lollies.
However, she said that Batool would remain inside and shout out an occasional “command” to Sara.
Neighbour heard distressed screaming from young female
14:38 , Holly EvansGiving evidence at the Old Bailey, Chloe Redwin, who moved into Rebecca Spencer’s flat in West Byfleet and lived above the family, said that she had heard consistent screaming from a young female.
Asked if she could hear shouting, she said: “Often you would hear shut the f*** up. You would hear shut the f*** up you b****rd and shut up you c***s.”
She also heard Beinash Batool shouting “go to your room”, and that a distressed screaming would often resume from 4pm onwards.
“The tone was very loud, in my opinion it was very aggressive, and I don’t know if I’m explaining it correctly, it was almost forceful. She had a determination behind what she was saying<” she said.
Ms Redwin said that Batool was often at the property as a ‘stay home mum’ while Urfan Sharif worked as a taxi driver.
In pictures: The three defendants on trial
14:19 , Holly Evans
Court adjourns for lunch
13:09 , Holly EvansThe trial has taken a break for lunch and will resume at 2pm.
Neighbour insists she heard stepmother using profanities
13:06 , Holly EvansWhen questioned by Beinash Batool’s lawyer, Rebecca Spencer repeated that she had heard the stepmother shouting and screaming at the flat in West Byfleet.
She insisted that she had heard profanities being used, despite Caroline Carberry KC pointing out that she had not mentioned the use of the word “f***ing” in her police statement.
Ms Spencer told the Old Bailey: “There’s a right and a wrong way to speak to children, and that wasn’t the right way.”
Recap: Police bodycam footage from night Sara Sharif's body was discovered
12:53 , Holly EvansBeinash Batool heard swearing and ‘effing’ in flat
12:10 , Holly EvansRecalling her experience of living above Sara Sharif’s family, Rebecca Spencer said she heard Beinash Batool swearing at the children, using “not very nice words”.
When asked what specific words, she said: “Just effing and not words you would expect to be heard spoken to children.
“I wouldn’t like to define it but in my head I’m thinking f***ing b*****ds”.
She recalled a garden party held in the communal areas in which the Sharif family attended, where Sara joined in the games.
“Sara was a lovely girl, she was taking part in the games with all of them, she spent most of her time chatting with me rather than playing with the other children.”
Neighbour had ‘door shut in my face’ when she asked about the noise
11:42 , Holly EvansRebecca Spencer told jurors she had occasionally heard a “thwack” coming from the flat, and had on one occasion asked Beinash Batool if all was well.
“On one occasion it was fever pitch. I said is everything okay in here and they said, “yes, yes” and the door was shut in my face. This was the stepmother.
“It had gone on for a long time, I was just getting to the end of my tether. General constant screaming and crying and banging,” she said.
When she moved from the property, she warned the incoming tenant that they were a “nightmare” family with the noise.
Sara was allegedly ‘shouted’ at and would carry out chores
11:18 , Holly EvansA neighbour has told the Old Bailey that she witnessed Beinash Batool shouting at Sara while she lived below them.
“I would hear the stepmother shout at Sara,” Rebecca Spencer said.
When asked by the prosecutor how she could tell it was Sara, she responded: “She shouted her name.”
She added that she had also seen the 10-year-old, then aged about six, carry out chores such as taking items down to the bin.
During this period, Urfan Sharif worked as a taxi driver while Batool remained home.
Neighbour heard doors ‘rattling’ as if someone was ‘locked in a bedroom’
11:07 , Holly EvansA neighbour who lived above the Sharif family in 2018 and 2019 at a maisonette in West Byfleet has told jurors that she had heard Beinash Batool “screaming” and a door “rattling”.
Appearing behind a screen, Rebecca Spencer said her first impression of the noise the family created was “just crying and then rattling of doors and a lot of door slamming, also the stepmother screaming.”
She described frequently hearing the sound of a door rattling at all hours, often after Batool had “lost her temper”.
“The family were never quiet when it came to closing doors but it almost seemed like they’d been locked in a bedroom, that constant rattling of a door. Trying to get it open,” she said.
Trial resumes
10:37 , Holly EvansThe trial of Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik has resumed at the Old Bailey.
Jurors are due to hear from Rebecca Spencer, a neighbour who lived next to the family in West Byfleet.
Swearing and gut-wrenching screams allegedly heard from family home
10:01 , Holly EvansLast week, jurors heard that that neighbours had heard “shockingly loud” sounds of smacking that were followed by “gut-wrenching screams” coming from the Sharif family home, the court heard.
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said Chloe Redwin, who moved into the neighbouring property on Eden Grove in September 2020, said she heard screams followed by a woman shouting “shut the f*** up” and “go to your room you f****** b******”.
Ms Redwin said she heard shouting and screaming at “any time of the day or night”, but that she noticed it did not occur when the “father of the household” was at home, he continued.
She said she “often” said hello to Sara’s father, Urfan Sharif, and that she thought he was “conscious of the noise his family made, because on occasions he would apologise for it”.
Neighbour had heard ‘banging’ and screaming as far back as 2018
09:27 , Holly EvansJurors heard that other neighbours from when the Sharif family lived in West Byfleet, where they moved at some point between 2018 and 2019, and later in Woking, where they lived from April 2023, had heard screams, smacking and crying coming from their home.
The court was told that neighbour Rebecca Spencer would hear: “banging and rattling sounds”, that: “would often be accompanied by the sounds of a child crying or a screaming, followed by complete silence.”
She added in a statement read by prosecutors last week that: “On those occasions I can only describe the silence as deathly quiet and I cannot even imagine what had happened to make the crying or screaming child become immediately so silent.”
Ms Spencer also described bangs from inside the Sharif’s flat like someone had been hit or smacked, the court was told.
She said she considered reporting it to social services but ultimately decided against it.
The key dates in Sara Sharif’s tragic death after alleged ‘campaign of abuse’
09:00 , Holly EvansTen-year-old Sara Sharif died after an alleged “campaign of abuse” in the home she shared with her father, stepmother and uncle.
A court heard on Tuesday that a “high pitched scream” was heard two days before the 10-year-old was killed and her family fled to Pakistan.
Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of his daughter’s murder alongside Sara’s stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 29.
Read the full article here:
The key dates in Sara Sharif’s tragic death after alleged ‘campaign of abuse’
Stepmother of Sara Sharif requests ‘earliest possible’ flights after child’s death
08:00 , Holly EvansSara had suffered dozens of bruises, grazes and burns
07:00 , Holly EvansGiving evidence on Wednesday, forensic pathologist Dr Nathaniel Cary said some of Sara’s external injuries, which included dozens of bruises, grazes and burns, were the result of “repetitive blunt trauma” and “blunt impact or solid pressure, or both.”
He told the court there were more than 71 injuries to the little girl’s body.
They included significant damage internally, including bleeding on her brain, multiple bruises on her lungs and multiple skeletal injuries, jurors heard.
Dr Cary presented his findings from a post-mortem examination of Sara’s body he carried out on August 15 2023 which took around three hours.
Sara had a height of 1.37 metres and a weight of 27 kilograms, with both measurements within the average bracket for a child her age but towards the lower end, the court heard.
Police bodycam footage from night Sara Sharif's body was discovered
06:00 , Holly EvansPictured: Sara Sharif before her death
05:00 , Holly Evans
Sara Sharif's father tells 999 operator he's killed daughter
04:00 , Holly EvansPictured: Note allegedly found by Sara Sharif’s body
03:00 , Holly EvansA 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.
Read the full article here:
Note allegedly found by Sara Sharif’s body: ‘Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter’
Stepmother of Sara Sharif requests ‘earliest possible’ flights after child’s death
01:00 , Holly EvansThe key dates in Sara Sharif’s tragic death after alleged ‘campaign of abuse’
Wednesday 23 October 2024 00:00 , Holly EvansTen-year-old Sara Sharif died after an alleged “campaign of abuse” in the home she shared with her father, stepmother and uncle.
A court heard on Tuesday that a “high pitched scream” was heard two days before the 10-year-old was killed and her family fled to Pakistan.
Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of his daughter’s murder alongside Sara’s stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 29.
Read the full article here:
The key dates in Sara Sharif’s tragic death after alleged ‘campaign of abuse’
Sara had suffered injuries for up to three months before her death
Tuesday 22 October 2024 23:00 , Holly EvansOn Thursday, the court was shown X-rays of some of Sara’s injuries, including fractures in the fingers of her left hand and one in the u-shaped hyoid bone in her neck.
A pathologist, bone specialist Professor Anthony Freemont, told the court he had concluded the break in her neck had been caused “within the setting of neck compression” of which “the most common cause of these types of fractures is manual strangulation”.
He said that, according to his analysis, this injury was between six to 12 weeks old at the time of Sara’s death.
Professor Freemont said the two fractures in the girl’s fingers had occurred between 12 and 18 days before her death, based on his analysis of the stage of healing the injuries were at.
Of the injuries he examined, Professor Freemont said: “If you find fractures of different ages and different bones, there is a high likelihood they are non-accidental injuries.”
The pathologist went on to say that the bone marrow he examined from Sara’s body showed changes which could have been caused by starvation or “the rapid removal of all food”.
The previous day, jurors heard that another pathologist who carried out a post-mortem examination on Sara’s body gave the girl’s cause of death as “complications arising from multiple injuries and neglect”.
How did this happen to Sara Sharif? What we know about the events leading to schoolgirl’s death
Tuesday 22 October 2024 21:38 , Holly EvansSchoolgirl Sara Sharif was hooded, restrained and beaten with a belt buckle and pole in a “campaign of abuse” lasting more than two years before her death, a court has heard.
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. All three deny murder and the defence is yet to mount its case.
Police found Sara’s body in a bunk bed in her family home in Woking, Surrey, on 10 August last year, with “disturbing” injuries that included bitemarks, scalding and broken bones.
Read the full article here:
What we know about the events leading to Sara Sharif’s death
Police bodycam footage from night Sara Sharif's body was discovered
Tuesday 22 October 2024 20:21 , Holly EvansWho was Sara Sharif?
Tuesday 22 October 2024 19:20 , Holly EvansOver the last week, jurors at the Old Bailey have heard harrowing details of a “campaign of abuse” allegedly inflicted upon Sara Sharif in the months before she died.
She was discovered dead in a bed at the family home on Hammond Road in Woking, after her father Urfan Sharif called Surrey Police during the early hours of 10 August to report he had “beat her” as she was being “naughty”, and that she had died.
Upon finding her body, police also found a handwritten note by Sharif in which he confessed to killing her, and said that he was “running away” as he was scared.
A post-mortem examination found a catalogue of injuries across the 10-year-old, including more than 70 separate injuries, a traumatic brain injury, 25 fractures, a burn from an iron and scalding from hot water. She was also found with six suspected human bite marks.
Jurors heard that neighbours who resided next to the family had heard screaming and shouting coming from the property, and traces of Sara’s blood were discovered on items such as a cricket bat.
Her father, her stepmother Beinash Batool and her uncle Faisal Malik have all denied her murder.
ICYMI: Sara Sharif had suffered multiple fractures across 25 locations on her body
Tuesday 22 October 2024 18:45 , Holly EvansSara Sharif suffered 25 unexplained fractures in multiple locations across her body, as well as an “extremely rare” neck injury that a radiologist had never seen before in a child, a court has heard.
A skeletal scan had revealed ten fractures to her spine, as well as ones to her right clavicle, left and right scapular, to her spine and ribs, elbow and hands.
Professor Owen Arthurs, who conducted an examination of the 10-year-old’s body, concluded that these had been most likely caused by “multiple episodes of blunt force trauma inflicted over several weeks”.
Read the full article here:
Sara Sharif suffered multiple fractures across 25 locations on her body, court told
Welcome to our live coverage
Tuesday 22 October 2024 18:22 , Holly EvansWelcome to our live coverage of the trial into the murder of Sara Sharif, which will resume on Wednesday with neighbours set to give evidence.
We’ll bring you all the latest updates
