Video captures Sara Sharif dancing at home days before her death, court told

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Jurors have been shown footage of Sara Sharif dancing at home in a video which was allegedly taken by her stepmother two days before the 10-year-old died.

The Old Bailey has heard the girl suffered dozens of injuries, including burns and human bite marks, in what the prosecution allege was a weeks-long campaign of abuse against her culminating in her death on August 8 last year.

Father Urfan Sharif, 42, stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are accused of murdering Sara.

A video said to have been taken by Batool was played in court on Monday showing Sara dancing at home, which “on the available evidence” appears to have been taken on August 6 last year, the court heard.

This date is being checked by the prosecution.

Batool cried in the dock when the video was played.

Forensic pathologist Dr Nathaniel Cary agreed while he was being cross-examined by Caroline Carberry KC, for Batool, that Sara appears “co-ordinated, alert and smiling at the camera”.

He also agreed her behaviour in the video is “inconsistent with her having sustained a brain injury with associated neurological symptoms at that time”.

Ms Carberry said there was “no dispute” on the part of her client that Sara was “subjected to extensive physical abuse over a period of time”.

Sara’s body was found in a bunk bed at her home in Woking, Surrey, after Sharif alerted police having fled with the family to Pakistan, the Old Bailey has heard.

All three defendants, formerly of Hammond Road, Woking, have denied murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between December 16 2022 and August 9 2023.

The trial continues on Tuesday.