Sara Sharif

That may be why neighbours did not report the screams they kept hearing - perhaps they were fearful of being labelled racist.

BlueBelle

It is unfortunately happening in all cultures there have been so many cases lately of children and babies being beaten and tortured and many have been white with Uk families, and bruises and injuries have been hidden without hijabs
I am pleased the Pakistani government allowed them to be sent back here for trial and I hope they get life and I also hope they get beaten up inside the prison their lives over and they are scared for themselves

Me too!

Allira

That may be why neighbours did not report the screams they kept hearing - perhaps they were fearful of being labelled racist.

I would report, whether they were white or any other colour, rich or poor or anything!

Much better to be accused of racism or other prejudices than another child is needlessly murdered

They won't though.

They may have to be put into solitary for their own safety. I hope they do spend the rest of their lives in miserable solitary confinement with no contact with anyone except the prison officers.

I wonder how they will deal with the fact that the 3 are now all blaming each other. They have the father's written confession, and recorded, but he is now saying he wrote it to "protect" the others. The other 5 children, who might give information, are under child protective services in Pakistan.

Those other children must be so distressed and confused. What must they have seen?! Just awful for them. Then uprooted with no notice and off to another country to be looked after by strangers.

I want to know what happened to this poor child’s mother as she was living with a step mother. Was she too murdered by the brute who ‘beat up’ his daughter repeatedly?

Aveline

Those other children must be so distressed and confused. What must they have seen?! Just awful for them. Then uprooted with no notice and off to another country to be looked after by strangers.

There is family in Pakistan.

The grandfather initially was caring for the children when the 3 accused went on the run. In a Sky news report, the grandfather condemned what his family had done to Sara in a now public video and said they should be punished if they had done what was alleged.

However the authorities in Pakistan judged it better they were in care. but there is no recent information I can find as to whether they are still in care or whether the grandfathers request to look after them has been met..

The 5 children are between 1 and 13 years old.

Truly heartbreaking. I am glad that the Pakistani authorities forced them to return, and frankly, if they all blame each other, then they should all be found guilty. Those who failed to stop the attacks are as guilty as whoever carried them out.

On the point of home schooling; I am appalled by the lax regulations over this, anyone can just take their children out of school. When my children were at the local primary school there was a family who did this; they were themselves of low educational achievement, he was a lot older than her and appeared very controlling, the son who had behavioural difficulties lived on a diet of crap processed and takeaway food, had a playstation, no bedtimes.... (and was the envy of all his previous schoolmates!). How can barely literate parents be permitted to home school their children?

Sorry, off track of the OP of course, but connected.

Legally it appears that checks are totally inadequate, not just failure due to lack of resources. Clear need for change in law/guidence within LEA'S.

adventuretravelfamily.co.uk/2019/09/05/does-the-lea-council-have-to-check-uk-homeschoolers/

It's easy to see why this family/Sara was overlooked.

It does matter HPQ if any changes are too be made to stop home schoolers who turn out to be abusers.

watermeadow

I want to know what happened to this poor child’s mother as she was living with a step mother. Was she too murdered by the brute who ‘beat up’ his daughter repeatedly?

Yes, her poor mother had to identify her body.

Her mother Olga lost custody of Sarah and her brother to her ex-husband. Then, when he remarried, the step-mother stopped contact.

Wyllow3 I know they went to their grandfather in Pakistan but had they ever seen him before? Who would actually be looking after them in this strange house in a strange country. Interesting that the Pakistan authorities have removed the children to other carers. Those poor wee things.

Well indeed, Aveline I agree - all we can know is that the Pakistan authorities had doubts about his being able to properly care.

Perhaps their privacy is being guarded for good reasons. The story did go out publicly in Pakistan it was so shocking.

This is only one of the reasons why I have a
massive bee in my bonnet about home schooling.
Who sees or hears the home schooled child, apart from his/ her family? I am sure many parents have the best intentions when they undertake this, but surely everyone can see this is a wonderful plan for abusers of children.

There is a very strong home-schooling society that organises meetings and outings so that children can socialise, and make lots of educational visits. But there are also families that use home-schooling once social services begin circling, and I doubt if these children join in with any of the activities.
.
This horrible case has reminded me of a six-year old I taught in the late 1960s, very similar to Sara in looks and personality. I noticed marks on her back in PE, had the nursery nurse look at them, as did the Head, who summoned the Welfare Lady (cannot remember her title). She arrived almost immediately, visited the family the next day and discovered the father had used his belt on the child because she was stealing food.
She sympathised with him that he was 'trying to bring his daughter up to be honest', but I do not know what she threatened him with, but he did not lay a hand on her again. She was a very county lady, always dressed in a fitted suit and hat, and she took no nonsense from any of the wife-beaters or drunks who terrorised their wives or beat their children. The mothers thought the world of her, and the husbands were terrified. The point was, she responded instantly to any concern, and nobody frightened her. Probably a smaller workload then, and not so much bureaucracy.

First, children shouldn't be allowed to be homeschooled except under exceptional circumstances. Most parents don't have the skills to teach their children the whole range of educational subjects thet should be taught properly either. This family like many others who abuse their children either physically or mentally can hide them from proper safeguarding that takes place at school on a daily basis. This is a fundamental issue that govt needs to address NOW as a priority. I hope that a full Inquiry will be launched to discuss this case fully when the trial is over. In the meantime, we all need to look out for our most vulnerable members of society and report suspicions of abuse. The blane lies with those who knew something was going on in that house and failed this beautiful child by not reporting their concerns. The family who did this to their daughter must go into solitary confinement for the rest of their natural lives.

Wyllow3

It does matter HPQ if any changes are too be made to stop home schoolers who turn out to be abusers.

Yes, not only are children potentially (probably?) receiving an inadequate education as in the case I cited, but they have no other adults to express concern should there be suspicion of abuse or ill treatment. A friend of mine was very mindful of the little boy I mentioned, he was a friend of her son. She gave him books, had him over for tea, but worried about where his education was going. A house with no books, lots of cigarette smoke, no bedtimes, unsupervised online games. The headteacher was aware, did his best. They moved out of the village years ago, a frequent occurrence apparently.

I am against home schooling on safeguarding grounds however I have complete sympathy for parents of children with learning disabilities who decide to homeschool because of the lack of suitable provision for their children. I realise that wasnt the issue in this tragic case, but the reasons families homeschool are often very complex.

This poor little girl was so let down by people who could have saved her. Neighbours hearing sounds of smacking and a child screaming should have aroused some suspicions but the school having noticed bruises that she tried to cover up should have followed the correct Child Protection procedures by contacting Social Services. They would have visited the home and if her parents could not give a satisfactory explanation for the bruises and why she was trying to cover them would have arranged for the child to be taken to a doctor for a medical examination. This would have probably saved her life. Having failed to do this it seems no alarm bells were raised when a child with bruises with no satisfactory explanation was said to be “home schooled”.This should have alerted them to contact Social Services. An enquiry should be made as to why the school failed in their duty to protect this child, it’s appalling..

I think everyone concerned with this child have failed in their duty. In particular, whoever made the disastrous decision to put her entirely into the care of her brute of a father.

What also concerns me about this dreadful case is the photo of her in full make up and western clothes looking far older than a primary school child.

My immediate thought was that she had been dressed up like this to send to men as a potential child bride. It made me shudder!

Aber57

Why would a father do this? How some people's minds work.

Why - because of his religion.

We've had plenty of threads on here telling grandparents to "keep their beaks out" of others' business, and how much everyone hates a "snitch", and it's nothing to do with them if they express concern that their grandchild is being exposed to possible harm.

It's worth considering that if people had "snitched" things may have ended differently here.