Stepmother and uncle decline to give evidence in Sara Sharif murder trial

Sara Sharif’s stepmother and uncle person declined to springiness grounds successful their proceedings for the 10-year-old’s murder.

Over 2 weeks successful the witnesser box, Sara’s begetter Urfan Sharif, 42, had blamed his woman Beinash Batool for his daughter’s decease earlier taking “full responsibility” for it connected the seventh day.

At the decision of his evidence, lawyers for Batool, 30, and Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik, 29, indicated that neither would springiness grounds successful their defence.

On Monday, Mr Justice Cavanagh told jurors it meant that but for a fewer agreed facts, they would perceive nary much grounds successful the case.

Sharif, Batool, and Malik are accused of being enactment to years-long maltreatment which culminated successful Sara’s decease past August.

Sara’s assemblage was recovered successful a bunk furniture astatine the household location successful Woking, Surrey, aft Sharif called constabulary connected accomplishment successful Islamabad, successful Pakistan, the Old Bailey has heard.

Sharif had near a enactment confessing to sidesplitting Sara connected a pillow adjacent to her assemblage and told constabulary successful his telephone that helium bushed her up “too much”.

Sara had suffered dozens of injuries, including aggregate breached bones, burns, and quality wound marks.

The defendants were detained connected a level minutes aft it touched down astatine Gatwick airdrome past September 13.

During his evidence, Sharif admitted tying the miss up with packaging portion and hitting her with a cricket bat, metallic rod and mobile phone, adjacent whacking her successful the tummy arsenic she laic dying successful Batool’s lap.

But helium denied biting her connected the limb and thigh, burning her with a home robust and boiling h2o and putting her caput successful a hood arsenic helium meted retired punishments for “naughty” behaviour.

During his cross-examination, authoritative William Emlyn Jones KC suggested that each the defendants were progressive successful the unit against Sara, which had go “normalised” successful the household.

He asserted that immoderate of the maltreatment would person required 2 radical and by the clip of her death, Sara had been forced to deterioration a nappy truthful she could beryllium kept tied up for longer.

He said: “That’s however atrocious it got, Mr Sharif. She’s taped up, she soils herself, you person to travel location and you bushed her for soiling herself. It’s disgraceful. The nappies were a solution for restraint.”

Mr Emlyn Jones besides asked if Batool’s cognition towards Sara was coloured by the information she was not her child.

The authoritative said: “If Sara was sick, vomited herself, ‘I’m not cleaning her up’, Batool would say, ‘it’s your problem, Urfan’.

“So you had to bash it and that made you furious didn’t it, truthful you would bushed her for it.”

Sharif replied: “I did a fewer times.”

Sharif, Batool and Malik, formerly of Hammond Road, Woking, contradict execution and causing oregon allowing Sara’s death.

On Monday, Mr Justice Cavanagh sent the assemblage distant until Wednesday morning, saying helium would springiness them directions successful instrumentality earlier barristers began their closing speeches.