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       LONDON: The ongoing trial surrounding the death of 10-year-old Sara Sharif has thrown up disturbing evidence about a pattern of abuse, allegedly inflicted upon the child by her father, stepmother, and uncle.

       Prosecutors contend that Sara’s death in Woking, Surrey, on Aug 8 last year was the tragic culmination of a campaign of abuse and neglect.

       During Thursday’s session, the jury heard details from a series of messages exchanged between Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool and her sister between 2020 and 2023.

       Batool is reported to have cited Sara’s “naughty behaviour” as the reason for the punishments, even attributing her defiance to a supernatural force, telling her sister “she’s got a jinn in her”.

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       In various messages, Batool depicted her husband Urfan as prone to violent outbursts and shared accounts of him punishing Sara in ways that included all-night sit-ups, verbal threats and physical beatings.

       She claimed Sara had cut up his clothes, hidden keys, and torn documents, all acts which were described as “rebellious” and indicative of her so-called “bad behaviour”.

       Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2024