Sara Sharif dreamed of being a fairytale princess, even as the reality of her Cinderella story in the leafy town of Woking was a nightmare from which she would never escape.
The 10-year-old had gone to live with her Pakistani father Urfan Sharif and “beautiful” young stepmother Beinash Batool following a custody battle with her Polish mother Olga.
Any hopes that her turbulent early years were behind her would have quickly been squashed as a pattern of abuse emerged within two years.
She was put to work doing the laundry and housework by Batool, who liked to keep up appearances and keep a tidy home.
Batool made her views clear by repeatedly complaining to her sister Qandeela that Sharif was hitting Sara for being “naughty” and “rude and rebellious”.
She blamed her stepdaughter for her own misery by baiting Sharif, saying she cut up his clothes, hid his keys and tore up documents, even suggesting she had a “jinn” or demon in her.
According to the prosecution, Batool was complicit in Sharif’s abuse because of the number of times she would call him home to sort out his daughter’s behaviour, knowing what would happen.
Sharif did not hold back with his punishments and tried to beat her into submission with a bat and pole, but nothing could dim her bright, bold and fierce nature.
Tragically, covering up at all costs appeared to have been drilled into Sara as she was subjected to degrading and horrific treatment by the adults in her life.
Even when the bruises started to show, she rejected teachers who had tried to find out what was going on.
Teaching assistant Hayley Holden described Sara as a “bubbly, confident, chatty, engaging child” who would dance, sing and put on a show for her.
She said: “She was a little feisty. If she had an opinion she would voice it and she was not afraid to answer back. She never spoke about her home life.”
There were no pretty pink ballgowns for Sara as she was made to wear a black hijab pulled down over her face to hide the many bruises.
When the assaults intensified and teachers noticed marks on her face and reported them to social services, she was taken out of school entirely.
Before then, Sara’s despair briefly surfaced when she came into class and buried her head in her arms on a desk.
When asked what was wrong, she turned away and would not talk about it.
In the final weeks of her life, Sara was physically broken, causing her to vomit and and become incontinent, giving Sharif even more excuses to beat her up for making a mess and soiling herself.
When that failed to satisfy her father’s warped idea of discipline, she was put in a nappy, tied up with packaging tape and her head covered in a homemade hood and beaten even more, it was claimed in court.
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said the reality was that violence against Sara had become so “normalised” no-one batted an eyelid at her bruises during a family barbecue.
Her spirit shone through on video taken just two days before her death showing her smiling and dancing at home, despite enduring the excruciating pain of multiple broken bones and iron burns on her bottom.
A handwritten notebook found after her death provided a further glimpse into Sara’s inner world.
She wrote a fairystory in which “Sara” was a princess and “Beinash” was a queen.
The only clue that she was getting into trouble was a letter to her parents apologising for being “rude” and “answering back”.
New videos released by police after the trial showed Sara sat on a black leather sofa singing and playing guitar and dancing in a playground.
Batool’s lawyer, Caroline Carberry KC, had put all the blame on Sharif for what happened to Sara.
Paying tribute to Sara’s strength of character and resilience in the face of the horrific abuse, she said: “No doubt that spirit, that boldness from his daughter was what Urfan Sharif tried to silence with his beating, control, cruel punishment and degrading treatment of her.
“Terrorising not just Sara but everyone else who lived under the roof with him.”
On Wednesday, Sharif and Batool were found guilty at the Old Bailey of Sara’s murder and her uncle Faisal Malik was convicted of causing or allowing her death.
Libby Clark, specialist prosecutor for CPS South East, said: “Seeing the footage of Sara laughing and joking even when she had signs of injuries to her body and knowing what a happy child she was at school, she loved singing and dancing and knowing what happened to her, those are the most affecting parts of the case.”
