The father of Sara Sharif, a British-Pakistani 10-year-old girl whose death sparked an international manhunt last year, forced his daughter to do sit-ups all night because she hid his keys, a court heard earlier this week. Urfan Sharif was also said to have made the little girl put her hands in the air after beating her so badly that her stepmother, Beinash Batool, feared he would break her arms and legs, The Guardian reported. 

The chilling details came to light as prosecutors on Thursday read out a series of WhatsApp messages between Batool and her older sister Qandeela Saboohi from 2019 to 2013, which the court was told detailed the alleged abuse. In the text messages, Batool described the 10-year-old’s father as a “psycho” who “beat the crap out of Sara”. According to The Guardian, she also said that Sharif had told her to cover up the girl’s bruises with makeup and sunglasses after the 10-year-old’s teachers became worried that she was to be homeschooled. 

Notably, Sharif, 42, his wife, Batool, 30, and brother Faisal Malik, 29, are on trial accused of carrying out a violent “campaign of abuse” before the 10-year-old was found dead at the family home in Surrey in August 2023. The three allegedly killed Sara on August 8 before fleeing to Pakistan, from where Sharif called police to say he had “beat her up too much”. He had also left a handwritten “confession” near her body saying, “I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her. But I lost it”. 

On Thursday, the court heard how the girl was “literally beaten black” by her father, as jurors were shown pictures of inside the house where Sara was found dead. Text messages recovered from Batool’s sister’s phone revealed that the stepmother once told Saboohi that Sharif would “regret” it if Sara revealed he “hits her like crazy and all the bruises” before adding: “I literally have to push Urfan out the way and save Sara.”

Batool also sent 10 photographs showing bruises, saying, “This is how bad he is beating her … I feel really sorry for her, he beats the crap out of her.” 

On 24 January 2021, Batool told Saboohi that Sharif had “beat Sara up like crazy” and “went ballistic” with her. Describing another incident in May 2021, Batool wrote, “Urfan is going crazy beating Sara up. I’m kind of having a panic attack … He’s literally (going) to break her arm or leg, I have no idea what to do … I’m in the other room, he’s locked us out, he’s not opening the door.”

The following day, Batool told her sister that she wanted to report Sharif for beating “the crap out of Sara”. “She’s covered in bruises, literally … black,” Batool said, adding, “Poor girl can’t walk, she literally fainted in the kitchen in the morning” and “he made her do sit-ups all night”. 

In February 2022, Batool messaged another sister, Amima Shahid, to say that Sharif was beating Sara up at home. “(If) something happens to Sara I will not be able to forgive myself,” she said, per the BBC. 

The same year in June, Batool told her sister she was considering removing Sara from school. “Sara’s body is literally bruised because Urfan beat her up, I can’t even cover it up,” she said. The 30-year-old also stated that Sara was beaten for being “rude and rebellious”.

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A few days later, Batool told Saboohi that the school was “worried” about Sara and that Sharif had been told to bring her in. Batool said: “Urfan told me to cover it (the bruises) up with make up and she’s going to wear sunglasses.”

In November 2022, Batool messaged the other sister, Shahid, saying that she was “too stressed to talk” and that she and Sharif had separated. Batool also said Sharif was going to Pakistan the following day, adding: “He went crazy today”, and that he had taken money and a passport.

In April 2023, Batool said Sara was not eating properly and was trying to make herself vomit. In May she added that Sharif had beaten up Sara “like crazy” and said, “Her oxygen level dropped really low, she’s finding it hard to stay awake … She’s breathing really rapidly.”

The day before Sara died, Saboohi tried to make contact but Batool told her she was “not in the mood to speak”. 

Sharif, Batool and Malik, all deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child. Jurors were previously told that Sara had been hooded, burned, bitten and beaten during more than two years of abuse. They were also told by the prosecution that the accuracy of messages sent by Batool to her sisters over a number of years was in dispute, as they only reflected what she was choosing to tell them.

The trial is ongoing.