Sara Sharif

[mauvish]

Sara, aged 10, was found dead in the family home.

The police "want to speak" with Sara's father and his partner, who flew to Pakistan the day before Sara's body was found, and then phoned (don't know who) from there:

The call led officers to the house in Woking where they found the body of Sara who had sustained "multiple and extensive injuries", likely to have been caused over a sustained period of time.

Another child suffers at the hands of those who should care. I hope they get them back from Pakistan but I wonder what the chances of that are.

RIP, Sara.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-66563430

I've been following this story and I'm so sad that her own family could leave her like that. I hope this beautiful child rests in peace.

So awful sounds like her mum was alienated from her by choice or force ? Bloody bullying mysogenistic basterds

Latest reports say that Sara was known to the authorities.

I read that the father was awarded full custody.........

So sad for this little girl. I hope the father and whoever else is involved is made to return to the UK. No idea why Sara was estranged from her mother.

I live 5 min from there. Police are still present which is unusual.
She was known to Social Services. They must have been busy dealing with lots of malicious referrals recently from their SEN team (4 for us alone), who have a habit of referring when they don't like a complaint etc.
Hopefully 'lessons will be learned'. Poor girl, RIP. The village is in shock.

From how quickly the mother sold her story to the papers it makes me think there is drugs involved. She sounded completely disengaged from the whole thing and living in a fantasy land. She had only seen her daughter twice in two years. Definitely appeared to be a druggie which is why he probably got full custody, What that poor child must have endured is heartbreaking. All the Tory cuts to local government means less spent on children services, poor quality staff, schools probably not being heard when reporting concerns. Seems nothing has been learned since Baby P

Yes, I also read a news report stating the father had full custody. The BBC news report says that the five children who have traveled to Pakistan are aged between 13 and one, so I’m assuming that they are her siblings/ half-siblings?

An awful case. I feel as though it’s not getting as much news coverage as you would expect for a story about a ten year old girl being murdered, so I wonder if it’s been suppressed by the police in agreement with the media?

I doubt mother sold the story. Father was awarded custody of her and her 13 yo brother. There are 4 other toddlers that were born after he remarried.
Stepmother has stopped the contact 3 years ago.

Why has he taken the other 5 children to Pakistan and then just left her there dead?!? How does pp know about the mother being a druggie. I haven't read anything about her yet, except that the father had full custody. It would explain why they were known to SS though, I suppose 🤔

I've just googled and pasting the first page I've found but this gives a pretty good explanation of why the father might have been given full custody.

"Fathers will tend to be more successful in winning custody of the children where there is evidence that the children are not cared for effectively by the mother. "

"There are many different reasons why a mother would have the children removed, perhaps because of mental illness, inability to encourage the contact between father and child, or the children receive a lower standard of care when they are with their mother."

www.watson-thomas.co.uk/help-and-advice/27-help-and-advice-divorce-relationship-breakdown/111-what-are-the-chances-of-a-father-winning-custody-of-children#:~:text=There%20are%20therefore%20usually%20two,when%20living%20with%20their%20mother.

As far as I understand it, this girl was living with her dad, step-mum and step-siblings.

From another site:

When should I seek sole custody?
The clearest reason to ask for sole custody is to protect your child from physical harm, especially if the other parent has a history of any of the following issues:
ABUSE: If a parent has assaulted or sexually abused the other parent or any child, this presents an obvious danger to their child.
NEGLECT: If a parent has previously neglected the child, this neglect could continue in the future. Neglect is the failure to provide a child with necessary medical care, dental care, supervision, food, clothing, shelter or other safeguards to protect the child's well-being.
SUBSTANCE ABUSE: A parent who abuses drugs or alcohol presents a danger to the child. The altered mental state that occurs as a result of substance abuse prohibits the parent from being able to properly care for the child.
MENTAL ILLNESS: A child should be protected from a parent who is mentally unstable and exhibits irrational and unpredictable behavior. For example, a child should never be left with a suicidal parent.
There are also reasons to obtain sole custody beyond protecting the child physically:
ABANDONMENT: Sometimes parents can't or won't take care of their child. If a parent has shown little interest in their child and has failed to maintain contact with them, you may want sole custody so the parent can't resurface years later to exercise custody rights as a virtual stranger.
INCARCERATION: If a parent is imprisoned, they cannot provide a home or care for the child. In this case, you may want to seek sole custody, and the other parent can have visits with the child after their release from prison, if appropriate. Don't feel obligated to take your child to visit a parent in prison if you feel it may harm the child emotionally.
RELOCATION: If a parent plans to move out of the state or country, it may be best for one parent to have sole custody.
Above all, sole custody should be for the good of the child, not for depriving the other parent.

www.custodyxchange.com/topics/plans/overview/custody-agreement-sole.php

Most likely and common reason why mother doesn't get custody is because she suffered abuse on hands of husband and disclosed that to family court.
Court encourages this sort of abuse sadly by quite often taking kids away from loving mother and giving custody to abusive father. Happens a lot.

My conclusion: for one reason or another, her mother was not fit for looking after Sara and her brother at her home.

Then Sara's step mother cut ties with Sara's biological mother 3 years ago for reasons not reported.

I just wonder what the biological mother has been like. Poor Sara probably had no one she could really trust.

The key points I read are:

Sara was known the social services

Sara had multiple and extensive injuries likely to have been caused over a sustained period of time. That puts down any suggestion it may have been an accident and they panicked.

It is unclear who the 5 children were. Sara had one full sibling, but not clear if the other four children who travelled were half siblings or also cousins via her uncle who also fled.

It was Sara’s father who called emergency services after they landed in Pakistan, who then visited the house. Hence the middle of the night visit. Think they landed around 5ish am local time in Pakistan and police visited the property an hour or two later.

Sara’s mother had seen her daughter only twice in a couple of years. Whilst her father had full custody, her mother has never actually explained why she never saw her daughter.

The police have been drip feeding information but a picture is developing.

Not sure what you mean - bio mother suffered abuse from husband hence full custody to husband?

That's right. The abuser still gets to control the victim via the children
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/its-highly-disturbing-courts-scandal-robbing-domestic-abuse-victims-of-their-children-sometimes-to-their-abusers-12416908

The four siblings are from the relationship with stepmother.
Birth mother was forbidden from seeing them (Sara and 13yo brother) because relationship with stepmother broke down.
Birthmother is foreign and likely not aware of legal procedures.

I get that, but there was a legal procedure in the first place which led to the father getting full custody. And it would be very odd for there not to be visitation rights. So the mother did have exposure to the legal system and would have been aware of it as recourse for any issues.

Thank you for clarifying who the other four children were.

The breakdown in relationship with the stepmother, was that confirmed by the police or is it speculation?

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-tells-gut-wrenching-moment-30705752.amp

FFS. I love a chat thread and theorising as much as the next person, but I think this is completely out of order. Her daughter has just been murdered and there is nothing to suggest drugs are involved, if you are so confidant, please can you link your evidence?

Hmm, so it’s not definite that’s why there was no relationship. It’s the mother’s version of events. Not confirmed by the police.

It doesn’t add up anyway - she’s seen her children twice in four years, but the fall out happened two years ago.

The other side is on the run. I know whose side I would trust more.
She has nothing to gain from that statement. I'm from that 'neck of the woods' and can definitely confirm mother would never voluntarily not see he child. It's in the culture.
she has seen her child one per year in 2019 and 2020 and not in 2021 or 2022.

Hmm, that bit of an odd response. I never said anything to suggest the other side was more believable, so not sure why it must be a case of one or the other side must be telling the truth. I simply said I would rather it’s from the police for me to believe it.

Personally, I find it odd the mother sold her story just days after her daughter died, but grief makes us behave in strange ways so I’m not going to judge her for it. But I’m also not going to assume her version of events must be true because she’s the mother whereas the father is an alleged killer. There’s three sides to every story - each party’s version of events and then the truth. I would rather hear it from an independent third party such as the police.

Even if it was true, we don’t know what the falling out was over. Perhaps the step mum wanted Sara’s mum out of the picture and facilitated an argument. Or perhaps Sara’s mum was too unstable and the step mum felt her behaviour was hurting Sara. It’s all speculation and unsubstantiated allegations right now.