Holly Minney
Family & Divorce
Should the Judges Involved in Sara Sharif Case be Named?
The name of Sara Sharif has become known by millions across the world following her brutal murder at the hands of her father, Urfan Sharif, and stepmother, Beinash Batool.
This is no doubt a high-profile case and one that has shocked many with the extent of the abuse suffered by 10-year-old Sara, and with many questions being asked as to whether this could have been prevented.
Sadly, Sara’s family was known to Police and the Local Authority for a number of years before she was even born. Family Court proceedings began shortly before she was born following concerns of neglect and violence in the family against Sara’s siblings. There were records of unexplained injuries, a three year old being found alone on multiple occasions in public, and allegations of physical abuse to name a few. This meant that soon after Sara was born in 2013 she was under a Care Order with her two siblings.
By November 2014 Sara was taken into foster care following more concerns of abuse. Foster carers noticed what looked like cigarette burns on both Sara and her sibling. Her parents denied this claiming they were chicken pox scars. Whilst Sara and one of her siblings returned to the family home before her second birthday, one of her other siblings remained in care, but she ended up in care again the following year. She eventually started living with her mother and was only allowed supervised contact with her father.
In 2019, Sara had reported that her mother, Ms Domin has tried to drown her, burn her with a lighter, slapped her, pinched her and pulled her hair. Despite the extensive history of neglect and violence, the social worker recommended that Sara live with her father, and in October 2019 Guildford’s family court granted an Order requiring Sara to live with Sharif and Batool. This was the same judge who has been involved with the 2013-2015 proceedings. Supervised contact with her mother eventually broke down, ending Sara’s contact with her.
The abuse continued, with concerns being raised by the School, however, when Sara was taken out of school to be home schooled there was little to be done as child services had told the school there was no further action to be taken after a six day investigation.
So the question is, should the judge who ordered that Sara Sharif live with her father and stepmother be named publicly. Journalists Louise Tickle and Hannah Summers think so and even made an application to the court for permission to name the judge. Whilst this has been rejected by Mr Justice Williams, master of the rolls Sir Geoffrey Vos has granted them permission to appeal the Decision and a two day hearing is set to take place on 14 and 15 January before at three-judge panel at the Court of Appeal.
Jas Burrha, Solicitor in the Family team at Mullis & Peake, said:
“This is a truly shocking case and one which has highlighted a number of safeguarding failings. It is evidence that local authorities, judges and other professionals do not always make the right decision, but when the wellbeing of children are at stake there need to be more safeguarding measures in place. I am not sure that waiving the anonymity of the judge is necessary, or in the public’s interest. The more pressing matters are the details of why certain decisions were made and whether there needs to be an internal investigation to avoid this again. What can be done to prevent children from being subject to abuse while apparently being homeschooled. To speak to one of our family team, contact our Romford office on 01708 784000.”