LONDON (AP) — The father of a 10-year-old girl found dead in her home in England fled to Pakistan and called U.K. police from there to say he had killed her, a jury heard Monday.
Urfan Sharif, 42, is on trial at London's Central Criminal Court accused of Sara Sharif's murder alongside his partner, Beinash Batool, and brother, Faisal Malik.
Opening the trial, prosecutor William Emlyn Jones said all three defendants had played a part in a “campaign of abuse” against Sara in the weeks leading to her death.
Police found Sara's body under a blanket in a bunk bed at her home in Woking, southwest of London, on Aug. 10, 2023, with dozens of injuries including extensive bruising, burns and fractures. A post-mortem examination concluded she died of unnatural causes.
Emlyn Jones said the discovery was made after her father called the police from Pakistan, saying: “I’ve killed my daughter. I legally punished her, and she died.” He also told the phone operator it wasn't his intention to kill her but he had “beat her up too much," the prosecutor told jurors.
Urfan Sharif, Batool and Malik had left the U.K. for Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, on Aug. 9.
Police in Pakistan found the three suspects after an extensive search and put them on a flight to the U.K. They were arrested upon arrival at London’s Gatwick Airport and held in prison to await trial.
Emlyn Jones said all three had lived in the same house as Sara and that it was “inconceivable” that just one of them had acted alone.
He alleged that each of the suspects sought to point the finger at the others. He said Sharif's case was that Batool, Sara's stepmother, was responsible for the girl's death, and he made a false confession to protect her.
The jury heard a recording of a phone call made on the evening of Aug. 8, 2023, the day Sara was believed to have died, in which Batool could be heard asking about booking a flight to Islamabad for four adults and four children.
The trio deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.
The trial is expected to continue until December.
FILE - This court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook shows Sara Sharif's father Urfan Sharif, right, and her uncle Faisal Malik appearing via video-link, from Belmarsh prison, at the Old Bailey in London, Dec. 14, 2023 as three members of her family have pleaded not guilty to her murder. (Elizabeth Cook/PA via AP, file)
