The very sad case of Sara Sharif

It's incredibly sad, isn't it? Poor little girl. As you say, you have to wonder if those responsible will ever be brought to justice, or if all those questions will ever be answered.

Scream honour killing to me, sadly

Yes, it has upset me too, maddyone, how she must have suffered since her father gained custody.

How could this father gain custody with the mother allowed access only twice a year?
Was it a British court which decided this and on what grounds?

Sara was not attending school either although the other children did. How did this poor child slip through the net?

Hithere

Scream honour killing to me, sadly

She was 10.

The age doesn't matter, but the "perceived" sin

Rip Sara

Apparently the family was "known to the police and the authorities".
Were they scared to act in case they were accused of being racist?
Why was this poor child left with them to be abused and killed?

Will lessons ever be learned?

I was sad to look at the photo of her in the news - she was wearing makeup and lipstick. Poor little girl - what kind of life was possibly being forced upon her.

Yes, she looks older than 10.

However, girls do seem to be experimenting with makeup earlier than we did.

Yes incredibly sad, like so many of these cases are. How awful for her mother, particularly as she lost custody, with such limited access, that is quite unusual. A very beautiful looking child, who appeared, as LovesBach has pointed out, appearance wise, older than a ten year old in one of the pictures.

My husband said the same Hithere. I would imagine there are different forms of honour killings. Poor little mite. The cowards have run off.

I can't understand if she attended school or not. I did read in the last few days that her headteacher said she had a lovely smile. If at school would they not have seen historical bruises?

It's all very sad and comes in these last weeks of very very sad and upsetting news. Her poor mother.

The picture of her rang alarm bells to me. Why was she wearing make up like that? No way did she do it herself.
How many times are we going to hear of children being murdered that are known to Social Services. We keep hearing from them that ‘lessons will be learned’. But that’s wearing thin now. I don’t know what it takes to make them do something before more tragedies happen. I guess a thorough overhaul of their training and practices might be a start.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

I found the picture of her disturbing; dressed up to look far older. She would not have been at school recently because of the holidays and they may have been told she had returned to live with her mother.
Being known to Social Services generally means they may have been referred in the past, but some families are very good at keeping under the radar; Covid has been a gift to those who do not want their children at school.
Bringing back the School Attendance officer would be a start.

I also wondered about the possibility of honour killing. Perhaps because she had mixed heritage? I don’t know.
The police in Pakistan have taken Sara’s grandfather and uncle into custody and it is reported that the uncle says that the stepmother claims Sara fell down the stairs and broke her neck! Maybe the stepmother killed her, who knows. It’s not unknown for a step parent to kill the children of their partner.
I noticed the makeup in the photo too. Was she being shown in that picture for an arranged marriage? Who knows. So many questions. So few answers.

A case a couple of weeks ago made my blood boil. A man who attacked his 15 year old daughter outside the school gates, using an iron bar to beat her unconscious, even biting her face was given a suspended sentence.
She had left for school early wearing make up. He thought she was meeting a boy. In fact she had gone in early as she had an exam. She was instructed by her mother to wear make up to cover bruises from previous beatings. Barbaric. What is the matter with the law in this country?

This case made me wonder why do we not have an extradition treaty with Pakistan?

I think that this little girl was home schooled. I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about home schooling. I have no doubt that most people who do this are extremely responsible and do a good job. However, if you are an abusive parent/ carer this gives you carte blanche to ill treat your child where no one can see and the child has no-one to tell. No one checks on these children and neither their safety and well being nor their educational progress is measured .

Hithere

Scream honour killing to me, sadly

Highly unlikely. Probably the fact that she wasn’t the child of the current wife.

Chocolatelovinggran

I think that this little girl was home schooled. I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about home schooling. I have no doubt that most people who do this are extremely responsible and do a good job. However, if you are an abusive parent/ carer this gives you carte blanche to ill treat your child where no one can see and the child has no-one to tell. No one checks on these children and neither their safety and well being nor their educational progress is measured .

A long buzzing bee in my bonnet too, Chocolatelovingran. The other one for me was kinship fostering but which now, thankfully, has been addressed. My very first task as a social worker in the 1980's involved dealing with a 14 year old who came into hospital in labour with a full term concealed pregnancy. In those days there were no procedures for assessing the suitability of relatives who offered to bring up the baby....or requirement for long term follow up for either baby or mother, who wouldn't disclose the identity of the father - understandable in the short term as neither she not her parent realised she was pregnant till she went into labour.. I did meet with the relatives who seemed likely to be supportive of mother and baby but I often think about her and the child....

It's depressing isn't it?

The same old same old, again and again.

No doubt more lessons will be learned - except that they aren't. And the result is yet another child abused and murdered.

Why is it so difficult to protect the nation's children?

Goodness only knows what the poor little thing had to endure in her short life. It's heart breaking and sickening.

It hasn’t actually been confirmed that she was murdered but I think we are all of the opinion, given the circumstances, that it is the most likely reason she is dead. The few facts we know appear to point to that rather than accidental death.
I’m quite concerned that police and Social Services knew about the family, that it has been reported that the father was very violent by Sara’s biological mother, that this child was apparently withdrawn from school earlier this year with little follow up, that many of her injuries are historic, and Sara’s Polish family have spoken to confirm that her father was violent. I wonder why Sara’s mother only saw her twice in the last four years. Pictures released show Sara to be happy and apparently thriving when she lived with her mother. Who made the decision to place her with her father? Why was mother unable to see her? Theres no suggestion she was unsuitable but even if she was, supervised visits could have been organised by Social Services. Was there some degree of political correctness involved because of her mixed heritage? Why was Sara made up in an adult fashion with adult type earrings in the released photo? What was the uncle’s involvement?

So many questions. So few answers.

I have just read that the pathologist's report said that Sara had suffered 'multiple injuries likely to have been inflicted over a long period of time' or similar wording. Poor child.

Poor little girl.
But like a lots of GN's that picture with her in that pose and make up, rang lots of alarm bells, that's not right.