‘Murdered’ Sara Sharif was found with ‘fractures’ and ‘extensive injuries’ following ‘multiple events of violence’
"MURDERED" schoolgirl Sara Sharif was found with "fractures" and "extensive injuries" following "multiple events of violence", a court has heard.
Sara's dad Urfan, her stepmum Beinash and her uncle Faisal Malik appeared at the Old Bailey charged with her murder today - after they returned from Pakistan to face charges last week.
The trio, who appeared by video link from custody, are charged with murdering Sara and causing or allowing the death of a child.
The Recorder of London, Judge Mark Lucraft KC, set a plea hearing for December 1 and a six-week trial at the Old Bailey from September 2 2024 during the defendants' brief first Crown Court hearing.
Sharif, 41, Batool, 29, and Malik, 28, spoke only to confirm their identities and dates of birth.
The male defendants were at Belmarsh high security prison in south London and Batool was at Bronzefield jail in Surrey.
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Police had launched an investigation after Sara's body was found under a blanket in a bunk bed at her home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10.
Cops had been alerted in a call from Pakistan, which lasted eight minutes and 34 seconds, at 2.47am on August 10.
Officers arrived at the property and found the young girl lying face up and fully clothed under a blanket in a bunk bed in an upstairs room.
Prosecutor Giles Bedloe said: "These defendants have been charged with the murder of 10-year-old Sara Sharif as well as the offence of allowing her death.
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"In the upstairs bedroom on a set of bunk beds attending officers pulled back the blanket and found the body of a young girl.
"She was fully clothed on the centre of the bed lying face up.
"Sara sustained a number of injuries - a healed fracture to one of her clavicles, multiple rib fractures, multiple bruising to the torso and limbs and the presence of haemorrhage on her brain.
"There were multiple healing fractures on different parts of body suggesting multiple events of violence over a period of time which must have culminated in her death."
The day before, the three defendants had left the UK for Pakistan with five children.
Last Wednesday, the trio, of Hammond Road in Woking, returned to the UK and were arrested on landing at Gatwick Airport.
At a previous magistrates' court hearing, the prosecution had outlined the events leading to the charges.
Sara was identified using the DNA of her mother Olga Sharif, who lives in Somerset, and another relative, the court was told previously.
It is alleged that Sara died as a result of third-party involvement.