The horror story of Sara Sharif’s life was laid bare in court with her father and stepmother finally found guilty of her murder after years of abuse and torture. The judge described the 10-year-old was as “a very courageous little girl with an unquenchable spirit” who loved to sing and dance. A postmortem found she had 71 external injuries, including bruises, burns, and human bite marks. She also had at least 25 fractures, including to the hyoid bone in her neck and 11 to her spine from being beaten with a cricket bat, metal pole and mobile phone. Her father and stepmother who fled to Pakistan after her death have both been given life sentences.
She was born on 11 January 2013 and immediately made subject to a child protection plan due to existing concerns about her parents. She was briefly placed into foster care in 2014 and later a refuge after her biological mother, Olga Domin, accused her father Sharif of domestic abuse. Sara returned to live with her father after a family court ruling in October 2019. ?? Why? There is pressure to name the judges who returned her to her father. An inexperienced social worker was assigned to her case recently.
She wore a hijab headscarf when she was at school which hid the evidence of her brutal treatment and was latterly home schooled to keep her away from prying eyes.
The usual litany of ‘lessons will be learned’ is hardly sufficient. The judges who gave her father custody should be named and told to explain their reasons. Hijabs should be banned in school – she was evidently the only one in the family who was forced to wear one – as should home schooling especially where ill treatment is suspected.
She was born 11 January 2013 and had a stellium in Capricorn of Sun, Mercury Moon and Pluto. She had one upbeat yod of Pluto sextile Saturn in Scorpio inconjunct Jupiter which would be what gave her an enthusiastic, optimistic streak. Plus another yod of Uranus sextile Jupiter inconjunct Saturn which is marginally trickier. But what sits across her chart is Saturn square Mars which does suggest cruelty and ill treatment and could have been emphasized depending on house position.
Her father Urfan Sharif, 25 November 1981, a Sun Sagittarius has a heavyweight Saturn, Pluto, Jupiter in Libra which squared Sara’s Sun so he would want to quench her challenging spirit, given his comments on ‘justified punishments’.
Her step mother Beinash Batool, 14 July 1994, a highly strung Sun Cancer opposition Uranus Neptune in Capricorn would also clash with Sara’s Capricorn Sun.
On the relationship charts with her father Irfan there is a total-domination composite Mars Pluto conjunction and with her stepmother Mars trine Pluto and a Mars square Saturn – and perhaps significantly her stepmother’s Pluto was exactly conjunct Sara’s Scorpio North Node.
Too depressing for words.
My experience in Denmark was that when the child reached a certain age, I think approximately 12years and up, they could apply to choose which parent to live with full time and also could complain about mal-treatment, if that was happening. The tribunal would take about a month or two before a decision was made. Very effective and efficient.
Sounds v sensible. I know cases where the child was adamant and their wishes were completely over ridden.
In the UK more weight is given to a child’s opinion the more mature they are, but they really scrutinise it when the child is 7-12. I have known a situation were the father spitefully tried to fight for access after many years, the children were 9 and 12 by then and he didn’t get it. What was a nighmare was the body that determines all this – CAFCASS. They attempt to look for evidence of the mother (or parent with current custody) inlfuencing the child against the other parent. This involved many upsetting interviews with the children, particularly the 9 year old being questioned away from the mother. This was despite the father being violent and having no interest in the children for years. The children felt gaslighted by their questioning, all trying to establish if their mother was telling them the truth about the father. The mother was just a casual aquaintance of mine and I only become involved in helping her when I found her in tears one morning. English is not her first language and honestly I was out of my depth with the paperwork, you need a law degree to deal with some of it. She was given zero support and no one else to turn to and felt like she was on trial.
Not sure what astrology or indeed psychology there is about the family scapegoat. It might seem more likely to be the weakling who invites bullying in a skewed family structure.
But I suspect it is more likely here she is the one who stood out – bright, sassy, unquenchable spirit – which with bullying/narcissistic parents especially from a patriarchal culture which demands female submission would bring retribution. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.
The parents are beyond thought – but so are the child care failures at several different levels and the pussyfooting around ‘cultural and religious sensitivities’.
Pleased they got maximum jail sentences. I appreciated the withering, parting comment from the judge: “take them down”.
Evil reprobates.
Marjorie I agree that hijabs should be banned in school. I think religion of any sort should stay out of education and the workplace.
My view is that religion should be downgraded to a hobby.
Thank Goodness me being a Christian but not hard line but practising to be kind and showing others kindness. Islam is just as bad as step mother syndrome. I pray little sara Sharif is in a good place living without fear. RIP
A quick calculation put Urfan’s Sun/Mars midpoint on his Jupiter/Saturn midpoint, conjunct his Pluto . Jupiter is ruler of the. 9th House – Religion and overseas connections . Saturn is exhalted Libra, making it a strong need for traditional authority. Sun /Mars can result in anger issues . A ball of fire . These planets have a conflict with authority, religion and anger. His Pluto/Moon midpoint falls in Scorpio. Scorpio is ruled by Pluto. There is a lot of deep emotions involved with a Moon/Pluto midpoint, as both Scorpio and Cancer are water. Also Sun/ Uranus conjunction in Sagittarius in a fire sign, would bring these emotions to boiling point. A complex emotional man. My first thought was he rejected her. Due to many issues. His ties with Saturn/Jupiter religious tradition, his need to be different Sun/Uranus, his deep emotional feelings Moon/Pluto with women and inner conflict, maybe became too conflicting? Sarah was an outsider to his new lifestyle, new wife and family, perhaps she fulfilled his conflicts in an outward expression? It feels wrong to analyse anything to do with the unimaginable horror and helplessness this little girl lived. Sometimes the Earth feels too violent and uncaring. The only comfort to come out from this heartbreaking little girls life, is that he can no longer hurt her.
Girlw r seen as proof of father’s impotence in Asia which favors male child as inheritor and more so to keep on feudalism as show of macho man…so girls born in Asia r always rejected even by father’s who try very hard to show that daughters r blessing but when alone curse his wife for not giving him a male heir..all education to science dies when orthodox is seen as “rich culture where unlike west kids don’t do drugs n marriages don’t end in divorces” ..how can they when there is no money so relations r toxic but inescapable as no other way to survive ..society also does all to not let individual live his life as hes seen as threat to it’s feudalism. Hence a father is rarest of rare, one in million who stands for his daughter when world is against her and she is down else when she’s admired by all ..he’s 1st to take credit.. shamelessly
Let’s not forget that Urfan Sharif had other other kids too including daughters. Why did he pick on Sara?
Ann – the authorities already knew he was violent, and had been arrested for domestic violence and I think holding two women against their will before Sara was born. Two of his other children with his second wife were also reported as injured by him. Which makes the court’s decision to send Sara back to that family in 2019 even harder to understand.
The cultural and religious sensitivities Marjorie mentions were also a notable factor in the horrifying death of eight year old Victoria Climbie almost twenty years previously. Currently, media is focused on the home schooling factor – yet this only became an issue towards the very end of Sara’s short life. The entire system failed her, in multiple ways, multiple times. And I do not believe that’s entirely about lack of money either. Some of it is about very poor judgment, and an incomprehensible lack of communication between different authorities.
Thank you Marjorie. Another utterly heartbreaking case, amongst so many over the years. I was reminded of the horrors of the tragic Victoria Climbie case. She was tortured and murdered by her great aunt and her partner in February 2000. She was just eight years old, a Scorpio born 2 November, 1991. It seems very little has been learned since then, and the subsequent report into how Victoria was so badly failed by the authorities makes depressing reading.
Currently, as of April 2024:
“Official measures are likely to be underestimations of the number of children who die due to abuse or neglect for a number of reasons, including:
the legal complexity of proof of homicide
misdiagnosed cause of death
abuse not being the immediate cause of death, but being a contributing factor
cause of death remaining unknown or unexplained.
However, based on the number of child homicides recorded by the police each year, we know that, on average, at least one child is killed a week in the UK.” NSPCC website.
The Children Act, 15 November 2004, came out of the Laming Report after Victoria’s murder. It has Mars 2 Scorpio trine Uranus 2 Pisces, so about to be triggered by tr Pluto and then tr Uranus in Gemini. UK Pluto in the 5th house of children connects with that Mars/Uranus trine too. It’s “authority” Saturn was 27 Cancer, so there’s a trine from tr Neptune that might be helpful, followed by one from tr Saturn. We can only hope.
Narc parental figures hate the vitality, upfrontness, purity, enthusiasm, spark and natural optimism of children. They HATE it. They all betrayed her – even the birth mother. The details of this story leave me speechless everytime.
So apt…yes, they marry the woman because she’s different ,bold from other ladies but then “I will “Tame (this) the shrew” and so the chain of violence begins in generations because none can change temperament one is born with and even when women become docile the fear of their temperament raising heads gets pronounced even if anyone just gives her a smile even if she’s a neighbouring lady..jealousy coupled with inferiorly deep complex
She seems to draw out the dark side of others.
Her 4th Harmonic has Mars-Saturn opp Sun-BML, ruthless father.
Her Destruction 16H has Sun-Sara-BML opp Pluto with Sun representing dad.
Her 31st Harmonic has Mars-Saturn opp Uranus, square Moon, mom-in-law.
Again she draws out the ‘shadow’ side of her mother-in-law.
Her Bucket chart has Saturn the lead planet in aspect to Mars, giving
a sadistic response from others.
Martha, I’m troubled by the wording of your post. I’m sure you didn’t mean it but it reads as if Sara was at least partly to blame.
Her father’s active violence towards women and children predated her birth and continued throughout her life. His and her stepmother’s sadism would always have found an outlet. Sadly for Sara she was their main target, but she wasn’t the only one.
Viewed dispassionately, it’s an interesting synastry analysis showing how a chart can interact with others (fated familial connections).
Sadly there was evidence to suggest poor Sara was the family scapegoat.
Yup…but she just revealed something forced in Asia on happy cheerful girls,”u will b raped. Stop being cheerful”..
Sorry but when I read about justice and then I see injustice encouraged authorised legitmised by Asia in saving such evil…I don’t know what’s the solution because evil is everywhere but Asia protecting hence encouraging such behaviour is beyond horror
I agree with what you’re saying.
I think in this particular case, Sara’s father spitefully fought Sara’s mum for custody, and once he (inexplicably) got it, Sara was punished. My instinct tells me Sara was also singled out because she had a white, western Mother. As well as being everything her pathetic specimen of a father, wasn’t.
RIP Sara. Poor, sweet little girl.
It’s impossible to understand how anyone could inflict that kind of abuse on another human being, let alone on a vulnerable child. I am glad the father and stepmother received the maximum sentence; it seems wholly insufficient as a punishment, but at least it will preclude their ever being in a position to torment another child.
One wonders if the decision of the judge to return Sara to her abusive father was a one-off–a single instance of poor judgment–or part of a larger pattern. That question alone would seem to justify examining the judge’s other cases to see that no other children have been sent back to live as captives of their torturers.
Judges do not to consider children as capable of deciding what’s in their own best interests. I know of a case here in the Netherlands where parents were awarded joint custody after a bitter fight. The children had to move every week from one household to the other with disastrous effects. The daughter would become hysterical, refusing to leave when it was time to go back to her father. But the father insisted on maintaining his ‘rights’ as awarded by the court (also likely revenge inspired). The mother suggested to the daughter that she write to the judge explaining why she didn’t want to live with her father. Which she did. The judge did not respond until the mother asked him if he had received the letter! His response was that he had to consider the wishes of both parents and shared custody meant that the parents had to make agreements with each other. The law does not require him to consider the wishes of the children. Thereby adding to the misery that this family suffered. They make decisions based on their knowledge of the law and not what inpact that might have on those affected by their lack of insight into the actual situation. I don’t know if the law in England differs in this respect. The law is a blunt instrument when it comes to family matters.
Much the same regrettably.