Sara Sharif was dancing in video days before death
· BBC NewsChristian Fuller & Claire Ellison
BBC News, Old Bailey
A video of ten-year-old Sara Sharif dancing at her family home days before she died has been shown to jurors.
The footage is believed to have been taken on 6 August 2023, four days before Sara’s body was found with dozens of injuries at the address in Woking, Surrey, last year, the Old Bailey was told.
Her father Urfan Sharif, 42, stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, have denied murder.
Jurors previously heard the girl had been hooded, burned, bitten and beaten during more than two years of abuse.
Warning: This article features distressing details
A post-mortem examination found Sara had suffered dozens of injuries including "probable human bite marks", an iron burn and scalding from hot water before she died on 8 August 2023.
Under cross examination, Caroline Carberry KC, for Ms Batool, put it to pathologist Dr Nathaniel Cary, who conducted the post-mortem, that Sara did not have a brain injury at the point the video was taken.
Dr Cary said: “She is conscious. She’s moving, and she’s moving in a co-ordinated manner.”
He also agreed that Sara appeared to be “co-ordinated, alert and smiling at the camera” during the video.
Dr Cary added that Sara was “moving remarkably well” in the video, considering her other skeletal injuries.
Ms Carberry KC said the video had been filmed by Ms Batool, but the precise date and time of video clip was to be checked by the prosecution.
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC previously said a bloodstained cricket bat, a rolling pin with Sara’s DNA on it, a metal pole, a belt and rope were found near the family’s outhouse.
The court also previously heard Mr Sharif, Ms Batool and Mr Malik travelled to Islamabad, Pakistan, with other family members on 9 August 2023, the day before her body was found.
Prosecutors said Mr Sharif called police from Pakistan and admitted he killed Sara about an hour after his family’s flight had landed in Islamabad.
Jurors were told Mr Sharif's case was that Ms Batool was responsible for Sara's death, and he made a false confession on the phone call and also in a note to protect his wife.
The three defendants, who lived with Sara in Woking before her death, are also charged with causing or allowing the death of a child, which they deny.