Sara Sharif's father and stepmother have been jailed for life at the Old Bailey for the 10-year-old's murder. Sara's father, Urfan Sharif, was told he will serve a minimum term of 40 years and stepmother Beinash Batool was sentenced to a minimum term of 33 years. Sara's uncle, Faisal Malik, received a 16-year jail sentence for causing or allowing the death of a child. Report by Kennedyl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00The courts at the Old Bailey have been witness to many accounts of awful crimes, but few
00:07can have been more terrible than the account of the despicable treatment of this poor child
00:13that the jury in this case have had to endure.
00:20Judges must be careful about using the word torture.
00:23It should not be overused, but it is no exaggeration to describe the campaign of abuse against
00:29Sara as torture.
00:33None of you has shown a shred of true remorse.
00:37You Irfan Sharif maintained for six days or so in the witness box that all of the injuries
00:42that had been suffered by Sara had been inflicted upon her by Benash Batool.
00:50Eventually when it became clear that your description of events had no credibility at
00:54all, you changed tack and accepted responsibility for Sara's death, while focusing your efforts
01:01from then on upon an attempt to exonerate your co-defendants.
01:07Even then, however, your stated remorse was no more than a ploy.
01:12You were still trying to wriggle out of responsibility for your crimes by asserting that you had
01:17not intended to cause any injury to Sara, and by allowing your counsel to contend that
01:24your admitted assaults on Sara were not the cause of her death.
01:30As for you, Benash Batool and Faisal Malik, you remained silent at trial and have made
01:35no effort to accept any responsibility for your offending.
01:42Irfan Sharif and Benash Batool, there is only one sentence that the law allows me to
01:47pass for the offence of murder.
01:50It is a sentence of imprisonment for life.
01:54That is the sentence that I will pass.
01:57But I am also required by the Sentencing Act 2020 to specify a minimum term which must
02:03elapse before you can be considered for release on licence.
02:09Irfan Sharif, it is clear from the evidence that I am sure is accurate that your assaults
02:14on Sara commenced in or about 2019, soon after she moved to live full-time in the family home.
02:22From then on, Benash Batool regularly reported to her sisters that you would go crazy and
02:28beat Sara.
02:30Sometimes she would send photos to her sisters of the bruises on Sara's body.
02:36I have seen some of the photos and it is clear from them that you regularly inflicted
02:41serious violence on your daughter.
02:44You would also design unpleasant punishments for her, such as making her stand against
02:49a wall holding her arms up or making this small child do sit-ups.
02:56Twice, in June 2022 and again in April 2023, you took a sudden decision to take Sara out
03:03of school and to home-school her.
03:07On each occasion, this was because the visible signs of the beatings that you had carried
03:10out had become so obvious that you were worried that the authorities would find out how you
03:16were treating her.
03:18You, Benash Batool, did not stand in Irfan Sharif's way and you did not.
03:23Sara was a brave, feisty and spirited child.
03:28She was not submissive as you wanted her to be.
03:32She stood up to you.
03:33You considered that her behaviour entitled you to chastise her physically and I have
03:38no doubt that your ego and sense of self-importance were boosted by the power that you wielded
03:45over her and the rest of the family.
03:49In fact, Sara was not particularly badly behaved.
03:53She was a normal child of her age.
03:55The beatings began when she was six or seven.
03:59Sara never did anything that might conceivably have justified any part of the treatment that
04:03she endured.
04:05Irfan Sharif, for the murder of Sara Sharif, I sentence you to imprisonment for life, taking
04:13account of all the relevant circumstances and the aggravating mitigating factors that
04:17I have set out.
04:19The minimum term will be 40 years.