THE death of the 10-year-old Woking girl Sara Sharif was an “accident”, her grandfather claimed.
Sara was found dead in her family home in the early hours of August 10 and a post-mortem examination could not establish how she died. But it revealed she had suffered “multiple and extensive injuries” likely “over a sustained and extended period”.
Detectives are looking for her father Urfan Sharif, his partner Beinash Batool and his brother Faisal who are believed to have travelled to Pakistan from the UK a day before the girl’s body was discovered.
"It was an accident, he (Urfan) didn't tell me how it happened," Sara’s grandfather Muhammad Sharif told the BBC.
He said he saw his son in Pakistan after he left the UK out of “fear”. Muhammad, however, denied being in touch with him.
"His daughter died and when you go under so much trauma, obviously you can't think properly," he said.
Rawalpindi police previously said they had accessed video footage of the immigration counter of Islamabad airport showing Urfan, his partner and children arriving there on August 9.
However, footage from CCTV cameras outside the airport could not detect what kind of transport they used after they exited the premises.
While the three suspects have remained elusive, the Dawn newspaper reported that raids were conducted at several places in Pakistan's Punjab province where his relatives live.
Muhammad thinks Urfan, Batool and Faisal should have stayed back in the UK to face the investigation instead of coming to Pakistan.
"They will ultimately go back to the UK and face their case," he told the BBC.
"Wherever they are, they will be able to listen to this. I say they should come out, (and) defend their case, whatever it is. They should answer the questions. I don't say they should stay in hiding."
He said the grief of his “lovely” granddaughter’s death would continue to haunt him for the rest of his life.
"Everything about her was so beautiful,” he said of the girl who, he said, had visited Pakistan twice.
Sara Sharif’s death was an ‘accident’: grandfather
Muhammad Sharif says his son left the UK for Pakistan out of ‘fear’
Piyush Goyal and Jonathan Reynolds tour the Royal Opera House in London
