The father of beaten-to-death schoolgirl Sara Sharif stunned jurors by telling them he “takes full responsibility” for the death of his 10-year-old daughter, adding: “I accept every single thing.”
But taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, then continued to deny murdering the tragic child insisting he did not mean to “harm” her when he bound her up and beat her with a cricket bat.
Sharif had sought to blame Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, for the sickening catalogue of injuries Sara suffered before her death, claiming he was out at work when his daughter was being abused.
But on the seventh day of his evidence at the Old Bailey, he dramatically confessed his “full responsibility” for what happened.
There were audible gasps from the public gallery as the defendant admitted hitting Sara with a cricket bat and pole, binding her with tape, breaking her neck, and battering her over the head with a mobile phone.
Sharif also admitted that he tightened his hands around his daughter’s neck on more than one occasion but denied he had used his Marks and Spencer belt to throttle her.
He also denied burning her buttocks with an iron and biting her arm.
His wife Batool sobbed uncontrollably in the dock whilst members of the jury panel wiped away tears as Sharif made his dramatic announcement on Wednesday morning.
Sharif initially asked for the charges against him to be put to him again but his barrister Naeem Mian KC intervened and after a lunchbreak appeared to have changed his mind, insisting he was not guilty of murder.
Under cross examination from Batool’s defence barrister Caroline Carberry KC, he was asked: “When you confirmed earlier today you beat her to death and you intended to cause her really serious harm that was an admission to the offence of murder.”
Sharif replied: “I did not want to hurt her. I didn’t want to harm her.”
Ms Carberry responded: “But you did harm her. What did you intend when you took a cricket bat to a 10-year-old girl?”
The defendant said: “I did wrong. I didn’t think anything.”
Ms Carberry asked: “Do you accept that you killed her?”
Sobbing, Sharif said: “She died because of me. I didn’t want to kill her.”
Sara was found dead in a bunkbed at the family home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10 after Sharif and his brother Faisal Malik, 29 – Sara’s uncle – Batool and their family fled to Pakistan.
The father phoned police on arrival at Islamabad and admitted he had beaten Sara “too much”, having left a written confession beside her body.
It was alleged that Sara suffered years-long violent abuse, which involved the use of a homemade hood and being tied up with packaging tape.
A post-mortem examination found she had suffered dozens of injuries including 25 broken bones, human bite marks, and burns on her bottom and feet.
Ms Carberry had earlier asked Sharif about the note he left beside the body of his daughter.
In it he wrote “love you Sara” on the first page followed by the words: “Whoever see this note it’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating.”
Ms Carberry asked if he did indeed kill his daughter by beating and Sharif replied: “Yes, she died because of me.”
The barrister said: “In the weeks before she died she suffered multiple fractures to her body, didn’t she, and it was you who inflicted those injuries?”
The defendant replied: “Yes.”
Asked if he broke Sara’s hyoid neck bone, Sharif said: “I can take full responsibility. I accept every single thing.”
Ms Carberry went on: “I suggest on the night of August 6 you badly beat Sara.”
Speaking barely above a whisper in the witness box, Sharif replied: “I accept everything.”
Ms Carberry went on: “Do you accept the post-mortem evidence that those fractures – at least 25 in number – were caused by you during assaults with a weapon?”
Previously, Sharif had put the blame on Batool, saying she was the only candidate in the house who could have hurt his daughter and denied accusations he was a “lying, manipulative and controlling man”.
Sharid, Batool and Malik all deny murder and causing or allowing Sara’s death.
The trial continues.
