Sara Sharif's dad and stepmom break silence in first video message since girl's death in UK

Absconding parents of Sara Sharif, 10-year-old girl found dead in her home, released a video claiming they are willing to co-operate with British authorities.

Sara’s body was found at her home in Woking, Surrey on August 10. Since then, Surrey Police havebeen after girl’s father Urfan Sharif, 41, and her stepmother Beinash Batool, 29, in relation to a murder investigation. The couple travelled to Pakistan from the United Kingdom on August 9 and police have been unable to locate them.

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This was the first time that Sharif and his partner Batool talked about Sara in a low-quality footage in which Batool can be seen reading from a notebook while Sharif remains silent.

Sara’s parents said they are willing to co-operate with British authorities

Batool spoke only two sentences on Sara, terming her death as an ‘incident’. Batool ends the video saying that they are willing to co-operate with the UK authorities to fight their case.

The video was sent to the BBC but they were unable to verify their account. Nor they were able to verify the conditions under which the video was recorded or the location, said BBC.

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Batool said, "Firstly, I would like to talk about Sara. Sara's death was an incident. Our family in Pakistan are severely affected by all that is going on. Imran (another of 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. I am very worried about Imran's safety."

She went on, "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're afraid to leave the house. No one is leaving the house.”

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In response to Batool’s allegations, Jhelum police chief Mehmood Bajwa told the BBC the allegations of harassment and torture of family members are false. He said if the family had any fears from the police they could go to court to seek protection.

Sara’s post-mortem details

The child was found dead after officers were called from Pakistan by her dad, Urfan Sharif, who is thought to have travelled to Islamabad on August 9 and police have been unable to contact them since.

A post-mortem examination showed Sara had suffered multiple and extensive injuries, likely to have been caused over a sustained and extended period of time.

(With inputs from agencies)

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