Three members of Sara Sharif's family have been found guilty over the 10-year-old's death after years of horrific abuse. Her father Urfan Sharif, 42, and stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, were found guilty of her murder while her uncle Faisal Malik, 29, was convicted of causing or allowing her death following a trial at the Old Bailey. Report by Jonesia. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00Police!
00:04In August 2023, police raided this home in Woking, Surrey, and found what they feared
00:10they might – the body of a 10-year-old girl, Sara Sharif.
00:18The raid followed this distressing emergency call from her father, Irfan Sharif.
00:23I killed my daughter. I killed my daughter. I was panicking and I laughed her out.
00:29Who's killed your daughter?
00:31It's me.
00:32OK.
00:33Sara.
00:34How?
00:35I beat her up. It wasn't my intention to kill her, but I beat her up too much.
00:43Sharif had made that call from Pakistan, where he'd fled the day after Sara's death, along
00:48with his partner, Benash Batool, and Sara's uncle, Faisal Malik.
00:54They are seen here, at Heathrow Airport, boarding the flight to Islamabad.
00:59Meanwhile, Sara's lifeless body lay on a bunk bed in Hammond Road, covered in injuries,
01:05including multiple broken bones, burns and human bite marks.
01:11At the family home, police found this note, claiming to be from Irfan Sharif.
01:16It says that he has killed his daughter, and that he is running away because he is scared.
01:23Whilst in Pakistan, Sharif and Batool delivered this video message in early September, complaining
01:31that their family was being harassed.
01:33The next week, Sharif, Batool and Malik returned to the UK, and were arrested on arrival at
01:40Gatwick Airport.
01:42I think you're looking for us, Batool tells officers.
01:58The trio were accused of carrying out a campaign of abuse against Sara over a period of nine
02:04months, culminating in her death.
02:07In nearly 30 years in policing, I've not come across a case such as this, where the
02:12level of injury that has been caused to a child is, as was inflicted on Sara, the level
02:20of injury, the level of neglect to her.
02:23Policing deals with these cases very, very rarely, and thankfully so.
02:28But when it does happen, it's a real motivating factor to us all, to ensure that we do our
02:34absolute best.
02:36Giving evidence at the trial at London's Old Bailey, Irfan Sharif blamed his wife,
02:41Benash Batool, for his daughter's death, before taking full responsibility for it on
02:45the seventh day.
02:47Both Batool and Faisal Malik declined to give evidence.
02:51Today, jurors found Sharif and Batool guilty of Sara's murder.
02:56Malik was found guilty of causing or allowing the ten-year-old's death.
03:01The court had heard that Sara was the only member of her family to wear a hijab, used
03:06to hide her injuries during this campaign of abuse.
03:10I've seen a lot of child abuse cases.
03:13These must be the worst injuries that I have come across.
03:21The number of them, the nature of them, and the suffering that Sara would have had as
03:32a result of this catalogue of serious injuries is like nothing I've seen before.
03:42Sentencing of the three defendants will take place on Tuesday next week.