Sara Sharif suffered at least “71 fresh injuries” a pathologist has revealed, as the extent of the 10-year-old’s injuries were revealed in court.
On Wednesday, Dr Nathaniel Cary, who carried out the post-mortem, described the extent of the youngster’s fatal injuries in court – included bruises, abrasions, skin ulcers consistent with burns and probable bite marks.
The third day of the trial saw Dr Cary explain the true number of injuries sustained by Sara remain unknown given the extent of bruising and scarring to the child’s body.
Sara Sharif was found dead at her family’s home in Woking on August 10 last year after her father rang police from Pakistan after leaving the country.
The child’s father is among three people accused of murdering her.
Urfan Sharif is on trial for Sara’s murder alongside her stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 29.
All three deny the charge.
On Wednesday the pathologist described how Sara had weighed 27kg (4st) at the time of her death – described as being at the low end of the acceptable health range for a 10-year-old girl.
Dr Cary described extensive historic injuries sustained by the youngster, including to her legs and scarring along her jawline, adding that many of the injuries remain hard to date.
The court heard how the child’s current injuries – which amounted to more than 70 – are said to have included “tram-like tracks” over the child’s abdomen.
It comes as the Old Bailey heard that Sara’s head was covered with “homemade hoods” made of plastic bags and parcel tape in the weeks before her death.
Fingerprints allegedly belonging to the schoolgirl’s father, Urfan Sharif, were discovered on one of the bags, the court heard on Tuesday.
It follows chilling body-worn camera footage emerged as part of the trial, showing the first police officers entering the home of the ten-year-old.
The trio travelled to Pakistan a day before police discovered Sara’s body in Woking on August 10.
On Tuesday the court also heard how Sara Sharif’s dad is accused of writing ‘I lost it and killed my daughter’ on chilling note left by the child’s body.
Jurors at the trial were shown the note found next to Sara’s body at the family home in Woking last year.
The note read: “It’s me, Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating. I swear to God it was not my intention to kill her but I lost it.”
It added: “I’m running away because I’m scared.”
The note also said: “My daughter is Muslim. Can you bury her like Muslim may be. I will be back before you finish the post mortem.”
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said the messages Batool sent to her sisters showed “all was not well” in the household and cast Sharif as an “angry parent”.
He told jurors: “As a minimum, it shows that Sara was being hurt and injured as long ago as spring of 2021 – so that is more than two years before her death – and that Beinash Batool was aware and even on her version of events, she didn’t stop it.”
In February 2022, the court heard she told another sister that Sharif was “beating Sara up … ‘cos she’s being naughty”.
She said that Sara had “anxiety” and vomited whatever she ate, adding: “Urfan’s behaviour makes her do it more.”
Then she told her sister: “Something happens to Sara I will not be able to forgive myself.”
The Old Bailey trial continues.
