Sara Sharif: So badly injured mum 'did not recognise her' in mortuary
- Published
The mother and grandmother of 10-year-old Sara Sharif have said they hardly recognised her in the mortuary, because she was so badly injured.
Sara's mother Olga Sharif said "One of her cheeks was swollen and the other side was bruised.
"Even now, when I close my eyes I can see what my baby looked like."
Sara was found dead on 10 August at her home in Woking. Police want to speak to three family members in relation to their murder investigation.
She had been living at the Surrey property with her father, her father's partner, her uncle and her five brothers and sisters.
Her father Urfan Sharif, his partner Beinash Batool, and the rest of the family all flew to Islamabad on 9 August.
Police in Pakistan are trying to locate them on behalf of detectives in Surrey who say they want to speak to three adults. Surrey Police said the post-mortem investigation revealed Sara suffered "multiple and extensive injuries" that were likely sustained over an extended period of time.
In the interview - with the Polish television programme Uwaga! on the channel TVN - Olga Sharif said she had separated from Urfan Sharif in 2015. Originally Sara and her older brother had lived with their mother, but in 2019 the family court said they should live with their father, though she still had equal rights.
Olga Sharif, who is originally from Poland but now lives in the UK, said that at first she was able to see her two children regularly but then things got harder.
"Their stepmother wrote to me not to come anymore because the children did not want to see me," she told TVN.
"It's not normal that once the children were happy, and arguing about who would talk to Mum first, and then the kids don't even want to talk to me on the phone and are calling me the worst names."
It is not clear when this happened, and the BBC has been unable to contact Beinash Batool for a response.
Sylwia Kurz said her daughter would like the son she had with Urfan Sharif to be returned to her.
"Olga would very much like to have him, so that he can be with her."
"She would like to get her son back, as we all would."
"My grandson is 13 years old, after all, so he must have known why Sara didn't fly with them."
Olga said that when she was married to Urfan Sharif he had mistreated her. The BBC has been unable to contact Urfan Sharif to respond to her claims.
The full interview is being shown in Poland on TVN's programme "Uwaga!" at 19:55 local time.
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