- Monday, April 29, 2024
Girl locally named as Sara whose taxi driver father came from Pakistan 20 years ago
By: Chandrashekar Bhat
A 10-YEAR-OLD girl, found dead in a Woking suburb last week, has been locally named as Sara, daughter of a taxi driver originally from Pakistan, media reports said.
However, the girl was not formally identified till Monday (14).
Police officers who responded to a “call for concern” found the body of the girl in her family home in Hammond Road in the early hours of Thursday (10). Little is known about the circumstances of the killing and a post-mortem is scheduled for Tuesday (15) afternoon.
Three people Surrey Police believe can help the investigation are believed to have fled the UK.
They were “known to the victim,” the force said, adding that no arrests had been made over the murder.
Geo News reported that UK detectives are in touch with Pakistani police.
Sara’s neighbours claimed to have seen two cars drive away from her residence hours before emergency personnel arrived at the scene.
Her father, Malik Urfan Sharif, 31, moved into their three-bedroom council house in Horsell in April along with his wife Beenish, and six children from two relationships, MailOnline said.
Having migrated to the UK about 20 years ago, Sharif is known as a fan of former prime minister Imran Khan with photos of the cricketer-turned-politician found in his car and home.
According to his friends, he attended a local mosque in Woking, although he is known as being “not very religious”.
Former Conservative councillor Rashid Mohammed said Sharif is a ‘hard-working family man’.
Sharif’s social media posts suggested he was vocal about the cost of taxi licences as he commented three years ago about how he managed to pay £1,145 for an annual permit.
The news of the murder came as a shock for the neighbours, with a woman saying her family was “traumatised” by the girl’s death.
Another neighbour, Amjad Ali, said he “couldn’t believe” such an incident had taken place in his locality.
“They are a Pakistani family that moved in about five months ago,” he said.
Officers remained at the scene of the crime on Monday as the investigation continued.
