Sara Sharif’s father was filmed slapping the 10-year-old across the face several times months before her death, a court has heard.
In a July 2022 video shown to the jury, Urfan Sharif, 42, is seen holding a baby while little Sara appears to desperately want to play with the child, saying ‘come to me’.
As he played with the baby, Sharif reached out and slapped Sara on the face four times.
The little girl was seen smiling and did not seem to react to the slaps except to say ‘hey’ towards the end of the clip.
She already had a mark on her face in one of the places he slapped, a mark Sharif claimed was caused by her stepmother Beinash Batool.
Sara Sharif’s battered body was discovered by police under the covers in a bunk bed on August 10
Urfan Sharif (left), 42, reached out and slapped Sara on the face four times in a video shown to the jury
Cross-examining Sharif at the Old Bailey yesterday [TUES] Batool’s barrister Caroline Carberry KC questioned why Sharif appeared to smile after watching the video in the dock.
She asked: ‘Do you think this is funny?’
‘I’ve not seen my daughter for a long time,’ Sharif replied.
The barrister asked: ‘Why did you reach out and slap her little face at all?’
But Sharif insisted: ‘These are not slaps, it was just play. You can see how happy she was with me.’
Pushed on ‘what word’ he would use to describe his actions, Sharif insisted he had been saying ‘coochie coochie coo’ which he claimed was Punjabi for ‘cutie’.
Ms Carberry went on: ‘You slapped her on the side of the face first, she didn’t even flinch at all because she’s so used to it.’
‘No ma’am, this is not a slap,’ Sharif replied.
Sharif, Batool, 30, and Sharif’s brother Faisal Malik, 29, sparked an international manhunt when they fled to Pakistan a day after Sara died at the family home in Woking on August 8, 2023.
The schoolgirl had at least 71 external injuries and had been bitten, burned with an iron and beaten with a cricket bat and a pole in what the prosecution say was a ‘brutal’ campaign of abuse stretching for months before her death
Sara already had a mark on her face in one of the places he slapped, a mark Sharif claimed was caused by her stepmother Beinash Batool (pictured)
Sharif later called police from Pakistan saying he had beaten Sara ‘too much’ for being ‘naughty’ but hadn’t meant to kill her.
Little Sara’s battered body was discovered by police under the covers in a bunk bed on August 10.
The schoolgirl had at least 71 external injuries and had been bitten, burned with an iron and beaten with a cricket bat and a pole in what the prosecution say was a ‘brutal’ campaign of abuse stretching for months before her death.
Batool, Sharif and Malik are on trial at the Old Bailey charged with murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between December 16 2022 and August 9 2023. They deny all the charges.
The trial continues.
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