‘Not guilty’ plea by trio accused of killing Sara
THREE members of the family of 10-year-old Sara Sharif, whose body was discovered at her home, have pleaded not guilty to her murder.
Her father, Urfan Sharif, stepmother, Beinash Batool, and uncle, Faisal Malik, are accused of killing the youngster who was found in Woking, Surrey, on August 10.
All three appeared at the Old Bailey to give their pleas via videolink yesterday ahead of a trial next September. They also denied causing or allowing the death of a child between December 16, 2022 and August 9, 2023.
A previous court hearing was told police found Sara’s body under a blanket on a bunk bed at her home after receiving a call from Pakistan at 2.47am on August 10.
Prosecutors told the Old Bailey that Sara had “a constellation of healed and healing injuries”.
The court was also told the defendants had booked a flight to the country two days earlier, and on August 9 had left the UK for Pakistan with five children aged from one to 13.
They returned to the UK on September 13 and were arrested on landing at Gatwick Airport. The five youngsters were put into child protection
after being found by Pakistani police living with their grandfather Muhammad Sharif in Jhelum.
Sara’s mother Olga Sharif, who is originally from Poland but now lives in the UK, said her daughter was so badly injured she struggled to recognise her body in the mortuary.
After Olga separated from Urfan in 2015, Sara and her older brother had lived with her. But in 2019 the family court said they should live with their father, but Olga still had equal rights.