Dead schoolgirl Sara Sharif’s uncle may not have been aware of the abuse the 10-year-old girl suffered at his home because he was “busy working at McDonald’s”, a court heard.
Faisal Malik, 29, lived with Sara, her father and his wife at the house in Hammond Road, Woking, where she was found dead on August 10, 2023.
He is charged along with Sara’s father, taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, and his wife Beinash Batool, 30, with murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.
The Old Bailey headlines that Sara suffered at least 71 external injuries and was tortured in the days before her death.
Malik’s attorney, Micheal Ivers, KC, today questioned police officer Greg Robinson about location data taken from Malik’s phone.
The Old Bailey newspaper claimed that Sara Sharif was inflicted with at least 71 external injuries and was tortured in the days before her death.
Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik (pictured), 29, lived with Sara in Hammond Road, Woking, where she was found dead on August 10, 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 in each hand, two ribs and the hyoid bone in her neck.
Ivers said it was not possible to say whether the data showed Malik was at his home on Hammond Road, at work at McDonald’s or in the area around the local Co-op at any given time.
Robinson confirmed this and said that a phone could connect to the same cell site phone antenna at any of these three locations.
Mr Ivers said: “When my client worked at McDonald’s, at home or spent time in and around the Co-op or in nearby parks, the idea of trying to discern the difference becomes impossible because it is basically the same mast.” .
Mr Robinson responded: “There is certainly a degree of similarity in the fact that we see the mobile using the same cell, all we can say is that the mobile could have been located in any of those locations.”
“This is maybe a little warning that we shouldn’t assume it’s on Hammond Road,” Mr Ivers said.
Robinson said that because Malik was on the Three network, there was less data available than a network like Vodafone and EE provide.
Ivers suggested it was best for the jury to rely on CCTV footage, Malik’s use of his card at the Co-op and his shift working at McDonald’s.
Malik claims that although he lived in Hammond Road, while working at McDonald’s and attending Portsmouth University as a student, he did not know Sara was being abused.
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.
Malik is accused along with Sara’s father, taxi driver Urfan Sharif (left), 42, and his wife Beinash (right) Batool, 30, of murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.
Malik claims that although he lived in Hammond Road (pictured), while working at McDonald’s and attending Portsmouth University as a student, he was unaware Sara was being abused.
After the death, Sharif, Batool and Malik fled to Pakistan, 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.
Sharif, Batool and Malik deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.
The trial continues.