The father of Sara Sharif should have been given a whole life order for his daughter’s murder, the Court of Appeal has been told.
Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool were jailed for life with minimum terms of 40 years and 33 years respectively in December last year after being found guilty of the 10-year-old’s murder.
Sara’s uncle, Faisal Malik, was found guilty of causing or allowing her death and jailed for 16 years.
In a televised sentencing at the Old Bailey in December, Mr Justice Cavanagh said Sara’s death “was the culmination of years of neglect, frequent assaults and what can only be described as torture”, mainly at the hands of Sharif.
All three are bringing bids to challenge their sentences at the Court of Appeal, while the Solicitor General is asking judges to increase Sharif’s sentence under the unduly lenient sentencing scheme.
At a hearing on Thursday, Tom Little KC, for the Solicitor General, said Sara’s murder was a rare case of such “exceptionally high seriousness” that it warranted a whole life order for Sharif.
He said in written submissions: “It is submitted that it is difficult to conceive of a murder being perpetrated on a young girl by her own father that could be any more serious than this.
Sara Sharif’s stepmother Beinash Batool, uncle Faisal Malik and father Urfan Sharif during sentencing over the 10-year-old’s death at the Old Bailey (Elizabeth Cook/PA)
“Whilst that is not the test it is illustrative of the need to consider the individual facts of the case.”
Sara was found dead in a bunkbed at the family home in Woking, Surrey, in August 2023.
She had suffered 71 recent injuries at the time of her death, including 25 broken bones, iron burns on her bottom, scalding marks to her feet, and human bites, appeal judges were told.
Mr Little continued: “The violence meted out to Sara was premeditated and repeated again and again even if the murder itself was not.”
The barrister told the court in London that Sara was caused “stress, pain and trauma” and began to vomit food or soil herself as a response to the abuse.
Mr Little added: “It is submitted that the level of violence inflicted upon Sara, namely serious violence which was repeated over years, was in itself certainly substantially premeditated, and is not in culpability terms any less serious than a premeditated and planned murder of a child.”
Lawyers for Sharif, Sara’s stepmother Batool and Malik are expected to make submissions to the Court of Appeal later on Thursday.
The hearing before the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, Mr Justice Soole and Mr Justice Goose is due to conclude on Thursday afternoon.