Father and stepess woman to live for a 10-year-old girl too lifelong

Father and stepess woman to live for a 10-year-old girl too lifelong

The father and the stepmother of a heavily abused 10-year-old girl who was found dead in her home in England were sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday for murder. Urfan Sharif, 42, and Beinash Batool, 30, were convicted last week for the murder of Sara Sharif. The public prosecutor described this as a "campaign of abuse".

Details on the case

The girl's uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, was guilty of either causing or allowed to have the girl's death. He received a penalty of 16 years in prison. After the girl's death, the three fled to Pakistan, where Urfan Sharif called the British police and claimed that he had "punished her lawfully and she died". He also explained that he had "hit her too much", but did not intend to kill her.

discovery of the body

The police in London hurried to the family home and discovered Sara's body on August 10, 2023 under a ceiling in a loft bed. The three returned to Great Britain more than a month after their escape and were arrested under the suspicion of the murder.

shocking details of abuse

The process on the Central Criminal Court showed cruel details of abuse, which included more than 70 fresh injuries and many older wounds, including bruises, burns, breaks and bite brands. This raised questions about the failure of social services and authorities who did not intervene and did not protect the girl.

comments from the judge

"Sara's death was the climax of years of neglect, more often attacks and what can only be described as a torture of a small child," said judge John Cavanagh. "The degree of cruelty is almost unimaginable ... none of them only showed the touch of a real regret."

reactions of the political leadership

politicians and other those responsible have requested a review of the events and call on reforms to prevent repeating of such cases. "Your death is a heartbreaking memory of the deep weaknesses in our child protection system, which we as a country have not repeatedly corrected," said Rachel de Souza, children's commissioner for England, in a statement after the process. "We have been here before - and every time we said: 'Never again.'"

social services and history

failures of the authorities

Despite the allegations that Urfan Sharif, his children physically abused, these allegations were never checked in court. The Surrey County Council, who repeatedly expressed concerns that Sara was probably abused by her parents, is probably abused by her parents, a review of the circumstances of her death. The children's services had examined after their school reported that Sara had bruises, but there were no further measures.

The last months of Sara

Her father later took them out of school to prevent the authorities from discovering abuse, as the judge stated. She did not receive home lessons. Olga Sharif described her daughter's murderers in a statement read by a prosecutor as cowards, sadists and executioners.

reute and responsibility

During the process, Sharif initially blamed Batool to the death of Sara, but later assumed "fully responsibility". He admitted to having choked them with his hands and beating them with a cricket racket and other objects. The public prosecutor said that violence had been normalized in such a way that nobody reacted when it appeared with bruises at a family grill party.

Sara's dream and her dignity

her parents forced her to wear a hijab - not for religious reasons, but to "hide the bruises that were distributed all over the body of Sara," said Cavanagh. Sara was described as lively and dreamed of being a fairytale princess. Her spirit came into its own in a video that was recorded two days before her death and showed her dancing at home, despite multiple breaks and iron burns on her buttocks.

"Despite everything, she smiled in the camera," the judge noticed.