Urfan Sharif said he had "shouted and screamed" when he found Sara, 10, bound by the living room radiator. He said his wife, Beinash Batool, told him: "She's been naughty so I've tied her hands so she doesn't hurt herself or someone else." Sharif denied beating and burning Sara and suggested Batool had bitten her "like an animal".
Sharif, 42, Batool, 30, and Sara's paternal uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are on trial at the Old Bailey, accused of a "campaign of abuse" before Sara was found dead in a bed at the family home in Surrey on 10 August 2023.
The defendants allegedly killed Sara on 8 August before fleeing to Pakistan, from where Sharif called police to say he had "beat her up too much". He had left a handwritten "confession" near her clothed body saying: "I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her. But I lost it."
A postmortem found Sara had fractures and 71 external injuries, including iron burns and bite marks.
Denne historien er fra November 08, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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Denne historien er fra November 08, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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