Four years before she died after being brutally tortured by her father and stepmother, Sarah Sharif told a social worker that she felt safe living with them because “they don't beat me.”
The schoolgirl's haunting words are buried in hundreds of pages of private family court documents released after applications by media outlets including the Guardian newspaper.
When asked what made her happy, Sarah answered, “Movie nights and when everyone played together… when everyone was nice to me.”
She was 6 years old at the time, and what her life was like after moving in with her father, Urfan Sharif, and his wife, Baynash Batur (known to Sarah as Ami, the Urdu word for mother). I made a comment during the protection inspection.
“I like living with Ami and Papa because I feel safe and they don't beat me,” she told the social worker.
Sarah filled out a worksheet about how she was feeling and said she loved school and that her siblings made her laugh. When asked what made her sad, Sarah replied: “When people hit me, when my mom slaps me, when I get yelled at, I get really worried. Ami doesn't hit me or slap me, she pushes me into naughty corners.”
When asked what makes her feel safe, she replied: “No one will hit me and I will live with Ami and Papa.”
Despite being aware of the history of abuse allegations against Sharif, social workers recommended that Sarah and her siblings continue living with their stepmother and father.
In the report, Sharif mentions Sarah's mother, Olga Domin, 38, who has only been working as the social worker for nine months and cannot be named for legal reasons. and detailed how he was accused of assaulting his brothers. However, the report concluded that there was “no concern for children left in the care of their fathers.”
The documents show that a senior judge, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, accepted the recommendation of an inexperienced social worker and in October 2019 Sara and her siblings were arrested by Mr Sharif, 43, and Mr Batur, 30. It has been revealed that they have made the final decision that they should live together.
Within months of the final order, Sarah was subjected to gruesome violence, including being tied up, hooded with a plastic bag, beaten, bitten, and burned with an iron and boiling water. The 10-year-old boy was found dead in his bunk bed at his parents' home in Surrey on August 10, 2023, suffering from approximately 100 injuries.
Sharif and Batool were sentenced to life imprisonment for Sarah's murder on Tuesday after an eight-week trial at the Old Bailey. Sarah's paternal uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, who was living with the family at the time, was acquitted of murder but found guilty of causing or causing Sarah's death.
Documents reveal the horrific circumstances of Sarah's short life, showing how she was placed in foster care twice by the age of two and underwent three family court proceedings before her father finally won custody. It became clear that
Sarah had been living with Batool and Sharif since March 2019 after her mother accused her of abuse. The couple then applied, with Domin's consent, for Sarah and her brother to live together.
The social worker's report was submitted as evidence before the final hearing in October 2019. The report outlined recent allegations against Domin, saying that Sarah said her mother “pinched her, punched her, threatened her with a lighter, and drowned her in the bathtub.” This allegation, like other allegations against the parents, was not tested in court.
The report also includes conversations a Surrey County Council social worker had with Sarah at the primary school on September 18 and 26, 2019. Sarah was questioned about her range of emotions and told the social worker it was “all bad” before repeating the allegations against her mother. .
During her second visit, when asked what was upsetting her in her life at that moment, she replied: “When people yelled at me. My mother hit me and screamed.”
When asked what her favorite thing to do in life is, she answered, “Coloring with me and Ami.”
But within months of their conversation, Ms. Batur sent a message to her sister saying that Mr. Sharif was a “psychopath” who was constantly beating his children.
