Sara Sharif’s father has told jurors he will “take full responsibility” for his 10-year-old daughter’s death.
Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, admitted under questioning as his wife Beinash Batool, 30, sobbed on the Old Bailey dock on Wednesday.
He confessed that he had beaten the 10-year-old schoolgirl with a cricket bat and a metal stick.
He also accepted that he had beaten her in the days before her death, causing fractures throughout her body.
Earlier, Sharif had tried to blame Batool for killing his daughter, but in a dramatic admission, he told the jury: “I accept everything.”
Sara Sharif was found dead at the family home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10.
Urfan Sharif, 42, is on trial for the murder of his 10-year-old daughter Sara
Sara was found dead at the family home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10 after the defendants fled to Pakistan.
The 10-year-old boy suffered dozens of injuries, including human bite marks and iron burns, jurors have heard.
Caroline Carberry, KC, defending her wife Beinash Batool, 30, asked: ‘Did you hit her? Did you inflict wounds on him?
Speaking quietly on the bench, he nodded and said, “Yes.” And he added: “I take full responsibility.”
He denied biting or burning his daughter when asked to look at a folder detailing injuries to her body. ‘I can’t do that. I can’t look at it. “I take full responsibility,” he said.
Sara Sharif had at least 71 external injuries on her body when she was found dead, a court previously heard.
Beinash Batool (left) and Faisal Malik deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child
Mrs Carberry said: “Did he use the cricket bat to inflict these injuries?”
He said, ‘Yes, ma’am.’
She continued: ‘Did you use a white metal pole to cause these marks?’
He replied, ‘Yes, ma’am.’
He said he took “full responsibility” for breaking the bones in her neck, but did not know if he used a belt to cause the injury.
Batool fled the dock crying while confessing. The trial at the Old Bailey was adjourned this morning after the dramatic confessions.
The schoolgirl was found dead in her bunk at her home in Woking, Surrey, after Sharif and Batool fled to Pakistan, where he made a 999 call on August 10 last year and confessed: “I killed my daughter.”
He had suffered at least 71 external injuries, including dozens of broken bones.
Police released this photo of Sara Sherif last September.
A post-mortem examination revealed ten spinal fractures and further fractures to the right collarbone, both shoulder blades, both arms, both hands, three separated fingers, bones near the wrist in each hand, two ribs and the hyoid bone in the neck.
Sharif had denied causing any of the injuries throughout the trial, but today, on his eighth day on the witness stand, he asked if he could say anything to the jurors.
He told them: ‘I did what I did. I want to admit it, it’s all my fault.
“That I admit what I said in my phone call (999) and in my written note.”
She asked to sit down and cried when Mrs Carberry asked: “She died because you hit her.” So is that true?
He said, ‘Yes, ma’am. I take full responsibility.
But he shook his head when asked if he intended to cause her serious harm or kill her.
Sharif, Batool and Malik deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.
The trial continues.