The uncle of the dead schoolgirl Sara Sharif might have been unaware of the abuse the 10-year-old suffered at home because he was ‘busy working at McDonald’s,’ a court has heard.
Faisal Malik, 29, lived with Sara, her father and his wife in the house on Hammond Road, Woking, where she was found dead on 10 August, 2023.
He is charged alongside Sara’s father, cab driver Urfan Sharif, 42, and his wife Beinash Batool, 30, with murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.
The Old Bailey head that Sara had at least 71 external injuries inflicted on her and was tortured in the days before she died.
Malik’s barrister Micheal Ivers, KC, today questioned police officer Greg Robinson regarding the location data taken from Malik’s phone.
The Old Bailey head that Sara Sharif had at least 71 external injuries inflicted on her and was tortured in the days before she died
Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik (pictured), 29, lived with Sara in Hammond Road, Woking, where she was found dead on 10 August, 2023
Sara was found to have ten spinal fractures and further fractures to her right collar bone, both shoulder blades, both arms, both hands, three separate fingers, bones near the wrist in each hand, two ribs and her hyoid bone in the neck
Mr Ivers said it was not possible to say whether the data showed Malik was at home at Hammond Road, at work at McDonald’s or in the area around the local Co-op at any given time.
Mr Robinson confirmed this, saying that a phone could connect to the same cell site phone mast at any of these three locations.
Mr Ivers said: ‘Where my client was working at McDonald’s, at home or spending time in and around the Co-op or the parks nearby- the idea of trying to discern the difference becomes impossible because it’s all basically the same mast.’
Mr Robinson replied: ‘There is certainly a degree of commonality that we see the mobile using the same cell, all we can say is that the mobile could have been located at any of those locations.’
‘This perhaps gives a little bit of a warning that we should not assume he’s at Hammond Road,’ Mr Ivers said.
Mr Robinson said that because Malik was on the Three network there was less data available than is given by a network like Vodafone and EE.
Mr Ivers suggested it was better for the jury to rely on CCTV footage, Malik’s use of his card at the Co-op and his work rota at McDonald’s.
Malik claims that although he lived at Hammond Road, while working at McDonald’s and attending Portsmouth University as a student, he was not aware Sara was being abused.
Sara was found to have ten spinal fractures and further fractures to her right collar bone, both shoulder blades, both arms, both hands, three separate fingers, bones near the wrist in each hand, two ribs and her hyoid bone in the neck.
Malik is charged alongside Sara’s father, cab driver Urfan Sharif (left), 42, and his wife Beinash (right) Batool, 30, with murder and causing or allowing the death of a child
Malik claims that although he lived at Hammond Road (pictued), while working at McDonald’s and attending Portsmouth University as a student, he was not aware Sara was being abused
After the death Sharif, Batool and Malik fled to Pakistan, leaving Sara’s body in the three bedroom house in Woking.
They were arrested more than a month later on September 13 last year at Gatwick Airport having flown back from Dubai.
Sharif, Batool and Malik, all deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.
