The stepmother and uncle of Sara Sharif will not give evidence in their defence during their trial for the 10-year-old’s murder.
At the Old Bailey, Mr Justice Cavanagh asked if each of the defendants’ barristers had advised their clients that the “jury may draw such inference as is proper” from their failure to do so, and they confirmed they had.
Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, along with the girl’s father, Urfan Sharif, 42, have denied murder and causing or allowing her death.
The court previously heard that Sara’s body was found with dozens of injuries at the family’s home in Woking, Surrey, last year, and that she had been hooded, burned and beaten during more than two years of abuse.
