The murder of Sara Sharif is a well-known case in Britain, but I became aware of it only because of a government report that has just been released. The report details failures by government agencies that contributed to Sara’s death:
Sara Sharif was murdered by her father and stepmother after a professional who may have “feared causing offence” failed to question why she was wearing a hijab that hid her injuries, a damning review has found.
The report, commissioned by the Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership, found that “race was a bar to reporting possible child abuse” and “professionals never explored how [her Pakistani heritage] impacted on Sara”.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
It identified failings by Surrey county council, the family courts and Sara’s school, and said that a family court judge had handed custody of her to her father in 2019 despite his history of violence, including arrests for assaults on three women and his own children.
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It concluded that “the seriousness and significance of father as a serial perpetrator of domestic abuse was overlooked, not acted on and underestimated by almost all professionals who became involved with Sara and her family”.
Sara’s mother, who is Polish, returned to Poland after her breakup with Sara’s father. The facts of the crime are appalling:
Surrey police officers found her body tucked upstairs in bed at home in Woking after her father, who had fled to Pakistan with Batool and Sara’s uncle, Faisal Malik, called them to confess. A post-mortem examination revealed 96 injuries, including fractures, burns and bite marks. Her back had been broken ten times.
An earlier report says:
Sara had suffered 71 injuries, including 25 broken bones, iron burns on her bottom, scalding marks to her feet and human bite marks.
But let’s not transgress against the gospel of diversity:
Neighbours also told the review that they had been reluctant to report concerns because they “feared being branded as being racist, especially on social media”. The report said: “While understanding their point of view, this is concerning that race was a bar to reporting possible child abuse and it needs to be overcome.”
No kidding. It might help if British police stopped arresting people who express doubts about the wisdom of mass third-world immigration on social media.
The father and stepmother hid in Pakistan for a while, before returning to Britain, where they were arrested. They were tried and convicted of murder. In what could be considered a happy ending, the father, Urfan Sharif, was attacked by fellow convicts only weeks after being imprisoned. They apparently considered his presence in their prison an affront:
Urfan Sharif, who killed his ten-year-old daughter Sara, has been slashed in the neck with a tuna tin lid by prisoners at Belmarsh, it was reported.
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Of the prison attack, a source said: “Urfan was sliced up badly in his cell by two others who rushed in. It was planned and they used a makeshift weapon — made from the lid of a tin of tuna. He was sliced in the neck and face, and is still in healthcare and in a very bad way.“He was lucky to survive, has had to have stitches and will have scars as a permanent reminder of the attack.”
Well, good.
UPDATE: The first comment on this post is:
Your country is in a pretty sad shape when your convicted felons have a better sense of justice than your judiciary does.
Indeed.
