The father of beaten-to-death Sara Sharif admitted he has “no credibility” after spending six days in the witness box telling jurors his wife was to blame for killing his 10-year-old daughter, a court was told.
The tragic schoolgirl was found dead at her Woking home with 71 external injuries including human bite marks and iron burns after her family fled to Pakistan.
On Wednesday, dad Urfan Sharif, 42, told the Old Bailey that he took “full responsibility” for his daughter’s death but denied murder, claiming he “did not mean to harm her” when he bound and beat her with a cricket bat.
The cabbie had sought to blame Sara’s stepmum Beinash Batool for carrying out attacks whilst he was at work but on the seventh day of evidence revealed: “She died because of me.”
But he denies murder and causing or allowing the death of a child alongside his wife Batool, 30, and Sara’s uncle, 29-year-old McDonald’s worker Faisal Malik.
Yesterday under cross-examination, Malik’s barrister Michael Ivers KC accused him of telling a pack of lies and asked: “What does the word credibility mean?”
Sharif replied: “If you’re telling the truth and if people will believe what you’re saying.
Mr Ivers then asked: “Do you think you have a credibility problem?” to which Sharif replied “Yes”, adding: “Because I didn’t tell the truth.
The barrister asked the defendant if his oath taken on the holy book had meant nothing and questioned if his tears had been part of an act.
Sharif replied: “The pain is real.”
He admitted he had no answer as to how his daughter and another child suffered similar domestic iron burns and human bites, despite being the “common denominator”.
Mr Ivers said: “What are the chances that two children you are connected with ended up with burns from a domestic iron and bite marks?”
Sharif insisted: “It wasn’t me. I did not bite,” later adding: “There are certain things I can’t explain. I’ve got no words.”
The barrister suggested it was no coincidence either that Sharif’s various former Polish partners – including Sara’s mother Olga – had alleged he would lock them up and take away their passports.
He said: “What are the chances that you could be so unlucky all these Polish women say the same thing about you?”
The trial continues.
