Sara Sharif’s dad and stepmum break silence for first time since 10-year-old’s death in bizarre video from Pakistan hideout
Sara Sharif’s fugitive father and stepmother have released a video saying they are willing to cooperate with UK authorities – their first public statement since fleeing to Pakistan following the death of the young girl.
The 10-year-old’s body was found at her home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10 after police were called from Pakistan by her father, Urfan Sharif.
Although her cause of death has not yet been determined, a post-mortem examination claimed Sara had suffered from ‘multiple and extensive injuries’ over a ‘sustained and extended’ period of time.
Following her death, Urfan, 41, fled to Pakistan along with his partner Beinash Batool, 29 and brother Faisal Shahzad Malik, 28, and an international manhunt to apprehend them has been underway ever since.
The trio have not been seen publicly since August 9, but in a video shared with Sky News this morning Mr Sharif and Ms Batool can be seen reading a statement addressing the ongoing murder investigation.
In the low-quality footage, Ms Batool can be seen reading from a notebook while Mr Sharif remains silent.
She says: ‘Firstly I would like to talk about Sara. Sara’s death was an incident. Our family in Pakistan is severely affected by all that is going on.
‘All the media have been given wrong statements…Imran [one of Mr Sharif’s brothers] did not give a statement that Sara fell down the stairs and broke her neck. This was spread through a Pakistani media outlet.
‘All of our family members have gone into hiding as everyone is scared for their safety. The kids are unable to attend school as they are afraid to leave the house. No is leaving the house.
‘The groceries have run out and there is no food for the kids as the adults are unable to leave their homes out of fear of safety. That is why we have gone into hiding.
‘Lastly, we are willing to cooperate with the UK authorities and fight our case in court.’
Sara Sharif’s fugitive father and stepmum have released a video saying they are willing to cooperate with British authorities- their first public statement since fleeing to Pakistan following the death of the young girl.
The 10-year-old’s body was found at her home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10 after police were called from Pakistan by her father, Urfan Sharif.
Although her cause of death has not yet been determined, a post-mortem examination claimed Sara had suffered from ‘multiple and extensive injuries’ over a ‘sustained and extended’ period of time.
Following her death, Urfan, 41, fled to Pakistan along with his partner Beinash Batool, 29 and brother Faisal Shahzad Malik, 28, and an international manhunt to apprehend them has been underway ever since.
The trio have not been seen publicly since August 9, but in a video shared with Sky News this morning Mr Sharif and Ms Batool can be seen reading a statement addressing the ongoing murder investigation.
In the low-quality footage, Ms Batool can be seen reading from a notebook while Mr Sharif remains silent.
She says: ‘Firstly I would like to talk about Sara. Sara’s death was an incident. Our family in Pakistan is severely affected by all that is going on.
‘All the media have been given wrong statements…Imran [one of Mr Sharif’s brothers] did not give a statement that Sara fell down the stairs and broke her neck. This was spread through a Pakistani media outlet.
‘All of our family members have gone into hiding as everyone is scared for their safety. The kids are unable to attend school as they are afraid to leave the house. No one is leaving the house.
‘The groceries have run out and there is no food for the kids as the adults are unable to leave their homes out of fear of safety. That is why we have gone into hiding.
‘Lastly, we are willing to cooperate with the UK authorities and fight our case in court.’
The news comes after Sara’s mother Olga Sharif today described the grief she felt upon identifying her daughter’s bruised, lifeless body in the morgue.
Speaking on Polish television programme Uwaga! on the TVN Channel, Olga said: ‘One of her cheeks was swollen and the other side was bruised.
‘Even now, when I close my eyes I can see what my baby looked like.’
Elsewhere in the interview she accused the fugitives of turning her children against her, and begged the couple to bring her teenage son home.
‘Their stepmother wrote to me not to come anymore because the children did not want to see me,’ she said.
‘It’s not normal that once the children were happy, and arguing about who would talk to Mum first, and then the kids don’t even want to talk to me on the phone and are calling me the worst names.’
Ms Sharif said in the interview she had separated from her husband in 2015, and that Sara and her older brother had been living with her until 2019 until a family court awarded custody of the children to their father.
Although Ms Sharif still had equal rights to see the children, and said while that was easy to maintain initially it became increasingly harder over time.
The bereaved mother had previously slammed claims from Mr Sharif’s brother, Imran, that her daughter fell down the stairs and broke her neck, saying: ’If there was an accident you don’t leave the country in secret.’
There is no formal extradition treaty between the UK and Pakistan but people have been returned from the Asian country before.
It comes as Sara’s grandfather said this week that his son, the girl’s father, had told him the death was an ‘accident’ and that he left the UK out of fear.
Speaking to BBC News, Mohammed Sharif said he saw Urfan after he arrived in Pakistan, adding: ‘It was an accident, he didn’t tell me how it happened.
‘His daughter died and when you go under so much trauma, obviously you can’t think properly.’
He added: ‘All I can say is that they should have faced the case, they should have stayed there and faced it instead (of coming to Pakistan). They will ultimately go back to the UK and face their case.’
The full interview with Ms Sharif will air on the Polish TV programme at 7.55pm local time on Wednesday.
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