Latest Sara Sharif murder trial: Pathologist explains to jury what caused 10-year-old’s death

Read the full report from the third day of the trial from our crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin:

On the third day of the trial at the Old Bailey, the jury heard:

• Sara Sharif had suffered more than 70 injuries shortly before she was found dead
• A pathologist gave the cause of death as “complications resulting from multiple injuries and neglect.”
• No natural diseases or medications contributed to her death, which was described as “unnatural.”
• Older injuries included scars on her left jaw, scars around her pelvis, a puncture wound on her forehead and marks from her lower left leg to the tip of her foot.
• The bruises on her legs were likely caused by “multiple impacts with a linear object,” which was likely an object used as a weapon.
• Traces of the ten-year-old’s blood were discovered on the kitchen floor, a vacuum cleaner and a cricket bat

When he read his conclusions, Dr. Cary cited Sara’s cause of death as “complications from multiple injuries and neglect” and described it as “unnatural.”

He said the findings were consistent with “significant and repeated blunt force trauma” and did not rule out the possibility that Sara’s burns contributed to her death from sepsis.

Previously, jurors heard that Sara had suffered “probable human bite marks”, an iron burn and scalding from hot water.

During a police search of the family’s home, traces of the 10-year-old’s blood were discovered on the kitchen floor, a vacuum cleaner and a cricket bat, the public prosecutor’s office said.

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

Dr. Cary presented his findings from an autopsy on Sara’s body that he conducted on August 15, 2023 and which lasted approximately three hours.

Sara was 1.37 meters tall and weighed 27 kilograms, both measurements being in the average range for a child her age, but on the lower end, the court heard.

The court found that no natural diseases or medications contributed to Sara’s death.

The older injuries included “patchy scars” on the left jaw, multiple purple scars around the pelvis, marks from the left lower leg to the tip of the foot, and fine scars and patchy brown discoloration on the left forearm.

Recent injuries have been found on all parts of Sara’s body, including her face, fingers, ankles and back.

Ten-year-old Sara Sharif died after an alleged “campaign of abuse” in the house where she lived with her father, stepmother and uncle.

Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of murdering his daughter, along with Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle Faisal Malik, 29.

Police found Sara’s body in a bunk bed at her home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10 last year after Sharif called from Pakistan saying he had “beaten her up too much” because she was “naughty”, the court heard.

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Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, is on trial at the Old Bailey alongside Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle Faisal Malik, 29, charged with the murder of his ten-year-old daughter Mount Casing.

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