SARA SHARIF
LONDON: A court in London has convicted the father and stepmother of Sara Sharif of murdering the 10-year-old in August last year.
The 43-year-old father snd hus wife Beenish Batool, 30, were convicted of murder at the Old Bailey on Wednesday after an eight-week trial. His brother, Faisal Malik, 29, was found guilty of causing or allowing Sara’s death.
Justice Cavanagh, adjourned sentencing until next Tuesday, telling jurors the case had been “extremely stressful and traumatic”.
Sara Sharif was found dead in the southern UK town of Woking on August 10, 2023, and a post-mortem test revealed she had suffered “multiple and extensive injuries” over a sustained period, British police said last month.
British police had said that Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 41, his partner Beinash Batool, 29, and his brother Faisal Malik, 28, fled to Pakistan to take refuge with relatives before the girl’s body was found, sparking an international manhunt.
The trio, along with five children, flew from the UK to Pakistan a day after Sara died. Police believed the trio left the country on Aug 9, a day before Sara’s body was discovered, and that they spent up to 5,000 pounds on one-way tickets to Pakistan for three adults and five children.
The British-Pakistani father of the 10-year-old girl later returned to England from Pakistan and stood trial there.
