LONDON: Following years of horrifying abuse, three members of Sara Sharif’s family, who are British-Pakistani, were convicted guilty in connection with the 10-year-old’s death.
After a trial at the Old Bailey, her uncle Faisal Malik, 29, was found guilty of causing or permitting her death, while her father Urfan Sharif, 42, and stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, were found guilty of her murder.
Informing jurors that the case had been “extremely stressful and traumatic,” Justice Cavanagh postponed sentencing until next Tuesday.
Jurors heard that despite allegations of abuse against taxi driver Urfan, Sara was battered to death four years after he was granted custody.
Attacks against Sara had “become completely routine, completely normalized” as a result of Urfan’s subsequent creation of a “culture of violent discipline,” according to prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC.
