‘Sadists, executioners, cowards’: Mother of Sara Sharif, 10, tears into daughter’s killers as they are sentenced
17 December 2024, 10:48 | Updated: 17 December 2024, 12:10
Sara Sharif's mother Olga Sharif described her daughter's killers as "sadists" and "cowards".
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
"She is now an angel who looks down on us from heaven, she is no longer experiencing violence.
"To this day, I can't understand how someone can be such a sadist to a child.
Addressing the defendants in the dock, she said: "You are sadists although even this word is not enough for you. I would say, you are executioners."
Mr Emlyn Jones said Mrs Sharif had expressed a view about the sentence the defendants should receive and referred to them as "these cowards".
Three members of Sara's family were in court at the Old Bailey to hear the girl's killers being sentenced.
Sara's father Urfan Sharif, 42, and stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, were found guilty of her murder and her uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, was convicted of causing or allowing her death by a jury last week.
The trio were flanked by three security guards in the dock.
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC told the court that the 10-year-old suffered an "unimaginable level of pain" over a "long period" before her death and that the violence had included a "use of weapons".
"This is a case involving a gross breach of trust because the deceased was the defendant's own little child.
"In their care, she suffered this violence in her own home where she ought to have been entitled to feel safe and loved and cared for," he added.
The lawyer for Urfan Sharif, Naeem Mian KC said even though the case provoked feelings of "anger, outrage and disgust", the sentencing should be approached "dispassionately".
Mr Mian said his client "accepts responsibility for that which he did" and no explanation had been given for the "horrific" burns and bite marks on Sara's body that he had denied inflicting.
Referring to Beinash Batool's role, he said: "They are equally as culpable and therefore your lordship ought not to draw any distinction between them."
The hearing continues.
