Olga Domin spoke out on Wednesday after Sara Sharif’s dad and stepmother were found guilty of the 10-year-old girl’s murder, following abuse at the family home in Woking, Surrey
The mother of Sara Sharif said the youngster’s dad should suffer as much as her daughter — and die in jail.
Olga Domin declared: “It’s not human to do this stuff to your own child” after Urfan Sharif, 43, was found guilty of Sara’s murder on Wednesday. The girl’s stepmother, Beinash Batool, was also convicted of murder while the girl’s uncle, Faisal Malik, was found guilty of causing or allowing her death after a jury at the Old Bailey deliberated for nine hours and 46 minutes.
Sara’s body was found by police in her bunk bed on August 10, 2023. A post mortem uncovered 25 fractures and 71 external injuries, including six human bite marks, and burns from a domestic iron.
Graphic details of the cruelty to which Sara was subjected were shared during the trio’s trial and now, after the guilty verdicts, Olga believes each of the relatives should die in prison. They will be sentenced at the Old Bailey in central London on Tuesday.
“I still can’t believe what is going on, this situation. It’s not human to do this stuff to your own child. They should all get the same for what they were doing. Monster is too nice word for him anyway. I hope he will be dying in jail,” Olga said on Wednesday night.
Sara was beaten to death four years after taxi driver Sharif was awarded custody, despite accusations of abuse against him, jurors heard. William Emlyn Jones KC, prosecuting, said Sharif created a “culture of violent discipline”, where assaults on Sara had “become completely routine, completely normalised”.
In January 2023, Sara had begun wearing a hijab to cover up the bruises at school. Teachers noticed marks on her face and referred her to social services in March of that year, but the case was dropped within days.
And last night, a friend of Olga said of Sharif: “How could social services ever give Sara to that man? He’s the worst of the worst. He treated her like a dog.”
Sharif throttled Sara and beat her with a cricket bat and metal pole, sometimes tying her hands and legs together with parcel tape. She was made to wear makeshift hoods during attacks and Sharif urged another child to hit her like a punchbag as if it was a game. Batool, 30, often called Sharif back from work saying Sara was being naughty and knowing he would beat her up.
Malik, 29, who lived with them in a flat then a cramped three-bedroom house in Woking, Surrey, failed to raise the alarm whenever Sara was attacked. Sharif hit Sara twice on the abdomen when she lay dying because he thought she was pretending to be ill.
Paying tribute to “angelic” Sara, who dreamed of being on The X Factor, Olga told The Sun: “She was always laughing, smiling. She loved all the kids. She was always helping, and making videos. She was an amazing child. She was saying ‘I’ll be a model’. I just don’t get why she is where she is.”
Sara was living with Olga from 2015, when they fled to a domestic refuge to escape Sharif’s violence. He was having supervised contact at a centre in Reading, Berkshire, before a family court hearing in 2019 which ruled Sara should live with Urfan. It is understood Olga did not contest the ruling at the time.
Olga was allowed contact with Sara, supervised by Batool, but she said the couple blocked this a few years before Sara’s death. The youngster has been laid to rest in Poland in a grave bearing her mum’s surname and adorned with flowers. Olga visits daily.
Olga also said in a statement released through Surrey Police: “My dear Sara, I ask God to please take care of my little girl, she was taken too soon. Sara had beautiful brown eyes and an angelic voice. Sara’s smile could brighten up the darkest room.
“Everyone who knew Sara will know her unique character, her beautiful smile and loud laugh. She will always be in our hearts, her laughter will bring warmth to our lives. We miss Sara very much. Love you Princess.”
