Schoolgirl Sara Sharif’s neighbor never saw the 10-year-old girl smile, today facing a murder trial.
Sara suffered at least 71 external injuries and was tortured in the days before her death, the Old Bailey has previously heard.
His father, taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, his wife Beinash Batool, 30, and his brother, McDonald’s worker Faisal Malik, 29, deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.
Her neighbor, Judith Lozeron, told the court she didn’t see Sara much, but thought she was being homeschooled because she was being bullied.
But she said, “I never smiled when I saw her, not once.”
Ten-year-old Sara Sharif (pictured) had been strangled until a bone in her neck was broken in the weeks before her murder, the Old Bailey has heard.
Sara’s father Urfan Sharif (pictured), 42, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of murdering his daughter, along with Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle Faisal Malik, of 29.
Police later charged Sharif, his wife Beinash Batool, 30 (left) and his younger brother Faisal Malik, 29 (right), who lived in the house at the time of the murder.
An autopsy revealed that Sara had suffered “multiple and extensive injuries” over a “sustained and prolonged” period of time.
Sara was found dead in her terraced house in Woking, on August 10, 2023.
Mrs Lozeron lived in the neighboring property that shared a wall with the Sharifs after they moved there in early 2023.
She said she and her husband introduced themselves to the family when they moved in and that the family “was always well dressed, always nice, clean and quite elegant.”
He said he didn’t see Sara much and didn’t play in the garden often.
She said she asked Batool, Sara’s stepmother, how she managed to homeschool her and Batool said it was “not difficult” as she had BBC Bitesize programmes.
“They told me that she had been bullied at her last school because she was wearing a hijab, so they decided to keep her at home and homeschool her because of that.
“I said I thought he should be with kids his age and Beinash responded that he was starting to make friends at the mosque and at the pool and that ended the conversation.”
He said Sara wore a hijab every time he saw her, but he didn’t see anyone else in the family covering their heads.
Prosecutor Ben Lloyd asked the witness: “How often did you see Sara?”
Police released this photo of Sara Sherif last September while appealing for information.
This artist’s drawing of the Old Bailey court by Elizabeth Cook shows Sarah Sharif’s father Urfan Sharif (right) and her uncle Faisal Malik (left), as well as her stepmother Beinash Batool (centre).
Sara Sharif was restrained with a plastic bag around her head with a “homemade hood” and “beaten with a cricket bat”, jurors were told.
Footage shows police breaking into Sara Sharif’s home
Urfan Sharif allegedly left distressing handwritten notes which appear to show him confessing to the murder before fleeing Britain.
‘I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her,’ reads the note supposedly written by Urfan Sharif and later recovered by the police
Mrs Lozeron replied: ‘Not very often. Sometimes I would go pick up clothes from the backyard.
“I saw her a couple of times in the car when everyone was going out but really very rarely.”
Mr Lloyd asked: “Do you remember seeing her smile at any time?”
Mrs. Lozeron responded: “She never smiled when I saw her, not once.”
She said Urfan told her that Malik did not live in the house, but she believed he did since she saw him often.
Mrs Lozeron said she made a special effort to welcome the family and that they were kind and friendly in return and said she never heard any particularly loud noises coming from the house.
But Mrs Lozeron said she would sometimes hear Urfan talking very loudly to Batool in the backyard and the conversations would become “heated”.
She said she sometimes didn’t like the way he talked about his wife and thought he spoke about her in a “belittling” way.
The neighbor agreed when asked if Urfan presented himself as “a good working father” and if he could be “quite charming.”
But on one occasion he saw Urfan belittle Batool and said: ‘I was surprised to see the resignation or expressionlessness on his face.
“I was looking at her when he was talking trash and I was surprised by that expression on her face, which was expressionless, but almost terrifying to me.
‘And then I wondered: does he do that often inside the house?’ Is it something you’re used to?
A court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook shows Sara Sharif’s father Urfan Sharif (right) and her uncle Faisal Malik appearing via video link, from Belmarsh prison, last December.
Court artist’s sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Sara Sharif’s stepmother, Beinash Batool, appearing via video link, from Bronzefield women’s prison in Surrey, at the Old Bailey in September last year.
These are the images that show the police breaking into Sara Sharif’s house.
She said her husband Brenin once told Urfan that he should not talk about his wife that way and Urfan never did it again.
Mrs Lozeron said the last time she saw Sara was at a family gathering the Sharifs hosted in their garden on July 23, 2023.
Sara was found to have ten spinal fractures and further fractures to her right collarbone, both shoulder blades, both arms, both hands, three separated fingers, bones near the wrist of each hand, two ribs and the hyoid bone in her neck.
After the murder, Sharif fled to Pakistan with Batool and Malik, leaving Sara’s body in the three-bedroom house in Woking.
They were arrested more than a month later, on September 13 last year, at Gatwick Airport, having returned from Dubai.
Sara had probably died on August 8, two days before Urfan called the police.
Sharif, Batool and Malik deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.
The trial continues.
