Horrifying WhatsApp messages between Sara Sharif's stepmum and sister reveal sickening abuse

Text messages between Beinash Batool, 30, the stepmother of Sara Sharif, and her sister discussed in court have revealed the extent of the shocking abuse that the 10 year old sustained at her home in Surrey

The stepmother of Sara Sharif exchanged text messages on the horrifying abuse the little girl was going through months before her death, a court heard.

Sara, 10, was found lifeless at her home in Woking on August 10, last year. Her body was discovered in a bunk bed with dozens of injuries. Her father Urfan Sharif, 42, stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are accused of carrying out abuse which led to her death.

On Thursday, jurors heard a series of WhatsApp messages between Batool and her sister Qandeela Saboohi about the abuse Sara suffered. The texts, which ranged between 2020 and 2023, recalled the multiple times that Urfan had reportedly beaten her. Some of the heartbreaking messages even include photographs of her bruises. “Look what he’s doing. Delete the pictures," Batool told her sister.

The court heard through text messages how she repeatedly complained that Sharif kept beating her for being“naughty”, and “rude and rebellious”. The reasons behind the battering included that she cut up his clothes, hid his keys and ripped up documents. Ms Saboohi advised her to listen to the Koran, and when Batool talked about going to the police, told her to calm down.

As early as February 2020, Batool described Sharif in the messages as going on a “rampage” after spilling hot tea, saying he was “possessed”. She described an “anger attack” after a visit to a play centre and incidents in which Sharif broke photo frames and curtains. Commenting on 10 photographs of Sara, she wrote: “This is how bad he is beating her … I feel really sorry for her. He beat the crap out of her.”

Batool said in the messages that Sara had cut her father’s clothes for being mean and Sharif was “punishing her” by making her stay up all night doing “sit-ups”. She told her sister: “She’s got a jinn in her. She reminds me of me when I was young.” On another occasion, Batool said Sharif “went ballistic” and “beat Sara up like crazy”, expressing fears that he would break her arm or leg. After Batool had gone to bed, she said Sharif was in the other room making Sara “put her hands up”.

In May 2021, Batool told Ms Saboohi: “Not great in our house, it’s all a bit manic. Urfan beat the crap out of Sara and my mind is all in bits. I really want to report him. Why the hell doesn’t Urfan learn – she’s covered in bruises, literally beaten black.” Afterwards, Sharif sat “on his fat bum” and played the board game Ludo, she said. She went on: “Why the hell I’m even letting him in the house. I’m sorry for Sara, poor girl cannot walk. She literally fainted in the kitchen in the morning. He made her do sit-ups all night.” Asked what Sara had done, Batool said: “Because she hid the keys.”

By 2022, Batool said she was planning on taking “legal advice” but was advised by her sister to give it time and not rush. Batool wrote that Sharif had woken Sara up to hit her because her “bad behaviour” got him “randomly” angry. In February, she wrote that Sara was vomiting “randomly” and that she could not breathe. Later that year, Batool said that she was considering taking Sara out of school, saying: “I don’t want to but kinda don’t have a choice.

“It’s not hard home schooling. I’m just fed up of her behaviour and Urfan’s. Sara’s body is literally bruised because Urfan beat her up. I cannot even cover it up. He beat Sara up yesterday and I can’t send her to school on Monday looking like that. She ripped Urfan’s documents in front of him and was being rude and rebellious. She’s got way too much bruises and stuff and home schooling isn’t that hard.”

Two months before Sara died, Batool referred to “Sara’s antics”, telling her sister: “Urfan beat the crap out of Sara … Yeah, he beat her up like crazy. Her oxygen level dropped really low, she’s finding it hard to stay awake.” Asked if Sharif had hit her on the head, Batool said: “Nah but she’s breathing really rapidly.” On June 22 2023, Batool messaged: “Having a bad day with Sara. Just cleaned her up. She pood herself.”

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.