Sara Sharif’s father confessed to killing the 10-year-old girl, but insisted he didn’t mean to ‘hurt’ her, even when he hit her with a metal pole as she was dying.

Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, had sought to blame a series of injuries on Sara’s mother-in-law, Beinash Batool, 30, claiming he was at work when his daughter was abused.

On the seventh day of his evidence at the Old Bailey, he told jurors he took “full responsibility” for what happened but did not intend to hurt his daughter.

He then admitted hitting Sara with a cricket bat while she was tied up with packing tape.

He strangled her repeatedly with his bare hands, breaking the hyoid bone in her neck, and hit her in the head with a cellphone, he said.

He denied burning her bottom with an iron, biting her arm or putting a belt around her neck, the Old Bailey heard.

But even as Sara collapsed and died in Batool’s lap last Aug. 8, he continued the years-long campaign of abuse, jurors were told.

That day, Sharif admitted to arming himself with a stick after being called home by Batool.

Defense solicitor Caroline Carberry KC, of ​​Batool, said: “When you entered the room it was clear that Sara needed medical help.

“You told Beinash that Sara was just pretending.

“And you took the metal pole that you had taken from upstairs and you gave her a few blows on her stomach, while she was lying there very sick.”

Sharif agreed and cried on the witness stand.

Ms Carberry said he refused Batool’s request to call an ambulance, adding: “It was very clear that Sara was really, really ill and, as we now know, dying.”

Sharif said: “I remember crying for my daughter to wake up. I couldn’t believe she died.

Sara was found dead in a bunk bed at the family home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10 last year, the day after the defendants fled to Pakistan.

Sharif had phoned police when he arrived in Islamabad and admitted he had “beat Sara too much”, after leaving a written confession on a pillow next to her body.

An autopsy found she suffered dozens of injuries, including at least 25 broken bones, human bite marks and burns to her buttocks and feet.

The defendants were arrested on a plane at Gatwick Airport upon their return to the UK on September 13 last year.

Earlier on Wednesday, Batool sobbed uncontrollably in the dock as Sharif told jurors he took “full responsibility” for Sara’s death.

Ms Carberry had questioned Sharif about the note he left next to his daughter’s body before leaving for Pakistan.

He wrote “I love you Sara” on the first page, followed by the words: “The one who sees this note is me, Urfan Sharif, who killed my daughter by beating her. »

Ms Carberry asked if he had actually killed her daughter by beating her and Sharif replied: “Yes, she died because of me.”

The lawyer said: “In the weeks leading up to her death, she suffered multiple fractures to her body, did she not, and it was you who inflicted those injuries on her?

The defendant replied: “Yes. »

When asked if he broke the hyoid bone in Sara’s neck, Sharif said: “I can take full responsibility for it.” I accept everything.

Ms Carberry continued: “I suggest that on the night of August 6 you beat Sara severely. »

Speaking barely above a whisper on the witness stand, Sharif replied: “I accept everything.”

Ms Carberry continued: “Do you accept the post-mortem evidence that these fractures, numbering at least 25, were caused by you during armed attacks?

She asked him what Sara had done, in his mind, to deserve such treatment, saying, “Were you angry with her because last summer she started getting dirty?” And she had started vomiting, hadn’t she?

“And when you hit her severely and repeatedly with the cricket bat, you intended to injure her, didn’t you? And you knew that by hitting her the way you did, you weren’t just going to cause a little bruise on her body. You hit her with the intention of causing very serious harm.

The defendant accepted.

Sharif requested that the murder charge against him be brought back against him, but after a lunch break he appeared to change his mind and insisted he was not guilty.

He told jurors: “I didn’t want to hurt him.

“I didn’t want to hurt him.”

Mrs. Carberry replied: “But you hurt him.” What was your intention when you brought a cricket bat to a 10-year-old girl? »

The accused said: “I did wrong. I didn’t think anything. »

Ms Carberry asked: “Do you accept that you killed her?”

Sharif said: “She died because of me. I didn’t want to kill her.

To conclude her cross-examination, Ms Carberry asked Sharif if he had told the truth when he confessed to killing Sara in his phone call to police and in the note on his pillow.

“When you told the police during that call that you beat her too much, you were telling the truth.”

Sharif replied: “Yes. »

Sharif, Batool and Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik, 29, formerly of Hammond Road, Woking, Surrey, deny murder and causing or permitting Sara’s death and the trial continues.