Sara Sharif at the centre of acrimonious custody battles
The girl’s father, stepmother and uncle are accused of her murder.
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Sara Sharif went to live with her father after accusations of abuse were made between her parents and an acrimonious custody battle.
Here is a timeline of events, according to her father Urfan Sharif, 42, who is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of her murder, along with her stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 29.
– 2009 – Sharif met his former wife, Olga, online and they get married eight or nine months later. He also becomes a part-time taxi driver.
Sharif alleged that his former wife had “bitten” another child and “abused” Sara during and after their marriage.
– 2011 – Sharif transitioned to driving a taxi full-time.
– 2013 – The couple’s daughter, Sara, is born.
– 2014 – Olga and Sharif have an acrimonious break-up.
– 2014 – Sara goes into foster care. Sharif meets Batool in the autumn of that year.
– January 2015 – Sara is returned to Sharif’s care, subject to Olga leaving the house.
– May 2015 – Batool moves in to live with Sharif, in Woking.
Olga makes allegations against Sharif about domestic abuse and child abuse.
Sara is placed back into Olga’s care.
– 2015 to 2017 – Sharif is permitted supervised contact with Sara.
– 2016 – Sharif says Batool has hit him with a wooden lemon squeezer after he wanted to leave.
– 2017 – Sharif and Olga’s divorce is finalised.
– Sharif and Batool get married.
– 2019 – Sara makes allegations of abuse against Olga.
– 2019 – The family court awards Sharif custody of Sara.
– October 2022 – According to Sharif, he slaps Sara on the bottom for fighting with another child, but he denies ever beating her.
– January 2023 – Sara starts wearing a hijab to school, which the prosecution allege is to hide her bruises.
– April 17 2023 – Sara is taken out of school. The same month, the family move into a new house in Hammond Road, Woking.
– August 8 2023 – According to Sharif, Batool tells him to come home. He finds Sara is limp and Batool tells him not to get an ambulance as she is dead.
– August 9 2023 – Sharif, Batool and Malik travel to Islamabad, Pakistan, from Heathrow Airport.
– August 10 2023 – Sara is found dead in a bunkbed at her home in Woking, Surrey, after Sharif called police from Pakistan to say he had beaten her “too much”.
– August 15 – A post-mortem examination identified dozens of injuries.
– September 6 2023 – Sharif and Batool appear at a press conference and Batool says Sara died in an “incident”.
– September 13 2023 – Sharif, Batool and Malik are detained on a plane at Gatwick airport after travelling back to the UK from Pakistan.
– September 15 2023 – The defendants are charged. They deny the accusations against them.