I understand the outrage at the neighbours who stayed silent but to an extend I understand it. When I was 23, I will living alone in a flat in Cape Town where I shared an entrance with the neighbouring flat. In the neighbouring flat lived Nigerian pimps / drug dealers and a lady who I presume was their Madam. And they used to hurt her - often - and most of the time I was genuinely too scared to call the police. They would have known it was me since I was the only one who shared any walls with them (due to the layout of the flat). I also had nowhere else to move to and I remember being genuinely scared of them. They had those dead eyes, ones that pierce straight through you and yet have nothing behind them. I did eventually call the police - one day when the screams were such that you physically couldn't ignore them (I think they were burning her with hot oil). The police came, they left and I high tailed out that very evening never to return. No major point to this other than I understand how neighbours can be scared of retaliation.
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I wonder if the fact that the dad and stepmother were from a different religion and culture made the neighbour(s) think about not reporting them.
Something like "that's just how they do things in their culture, that's how they discipline their children".
Of course this doesn't excuse child abuse, but it could provide a reason.
Something like "that's just how they do things in their culture, that's how they discipline their children".
Of course this doesn't excuse child abuse, but it could provide a reason.
The stepmother shut down a conversation with a neighbour who commented (positively) on Sara having started to wear a hijab, and that may make people think twice about doing anything else for fear of accusation of racism, but ultimately no matter what culture or heritage, children deserve protection.
We all have the responsibility to safeguard children - and vulnerable adults - but yes it can be very hard to know what to do, and it’s compounded by a view from many that SS will just remove a child from the family if there’s suspicions. The threshold is incredibly high and that isn’t always well-known by general public.
We all have the responsibility to safeguard children - and vulnerable adults - but yes it can be very hard to know what to do, and it’s compounded by a view from many that SS will just remove a child from the family if there’s suspicions. The threshold is incredibly high and that isn’t always well-known by general public.
I remember reporting someone I worked with to SS because I believed they would put their young daughter at risk and I needed the daughter to be safeguarded and not be allowed to be alone with this parent at that moment in time (I did not work with/had no concerns for the other parent). It was all pretty horrible when it happened. They were hopping mad about it and whilst they hadn’t been told it was me that did it, they were told it was someone from my workplace (and my manager kind of threw me under the bus about it as well, because it was only my manager and I in the room when they were in the office shouting the odds and my manager OF COURSE had to go ‘well, *I* didn’t report you…’ and as the person’s keyworker, I was the only other likely suspect. One of many lessons I had from that manager in how NOT to manage people!) Despite feeling uncomfortable at the time, I resolved in my head I had done the right thing and would do it again if I had to. Several months later when this person was in a far better place, I went to visit them in the place they were now living (professional visit!) and during the conversation they said they knew it was me who reported them to SS. And I said ‘yes, it was. And I think now, today, you know exactly why I did that and why I have never regretted doing it’ and they did understand why. And I think they agreed with me that I should have done it when I did, not that I needed their approval for it. Anytime I’ve ever hesitated professionally about a safeguarding call, I remember that situation. Even if that person had remained furious forever about it, I didn’t care. Had something bad happened to the daughter, I don’t think I would have been professionally responsible (hard to explain without outing myself!), but I would have struggled to reconcile the situation personally for the rest of my life.
I absolutely agree with you. Religion and culture should never be used as an excuse to hurt and abuse children.
I just think that some people (usually white people) are too scared of being accused of being racist to challenge people from an ethnic minority about their abusive/criminal behaviour.
I think to be fair some white people fear the repercussions of being “branded” racist. I’ve seen some all-out “get them, they’re a racist” revenge arracks, and in a multicultural area that can make you a walking target. Especially if you’re a woman. Everyone joins in, it’s worse than shouting “that’s the pweirdo” about someone.
“She loved to be on the stage and singing and performing. That was her happy space."
Detail here that her teacher saw bruises, school made a safeguarding referral. BB was defensive. She was heard swearing in Punjabi at the other children.
www.bbc.com
Detail here that her teacher saw bruises, school made a safeguarding referral. BB was defensive. She was heard swearing in Punjabi at the other children.
Sara Sharif: Teacher saw bruises on face of girl, 10, court hears
Jurors previously heard Sara had been hooded, burned and beaten during more than two years of abuse.
www.bbc.com
tit, they were always dragging her out of school.
School flagged the bruises and inconsistent answers March 2023.
She was withdrawn to ‘home school’ in April 2023.
Where was the safeguarding from SS?!
She was withdrawn to ‘home school’ in April 2023.
Where was the safeguarding from SS?!
I can't imagine how much you'd be panicking as a teacher in that scenario. I wonder if they were chasing it up.
Wonder how many of her siblings went to that school at that time, whether the brother was spoken to by school or SS, or whether he seemed okay/normal or upset/anxious.
Sara Sharif had more than 70 recent injuries after her death, court told
The Old Bailey heard Sara suffered significant damage internally, including bleeding on the surface level of her brain and multiple skeletal…
I really feel like the kids were taken to Pakistan so they couldn't give evidence. Especially her older brother.
Totally agree. Probably an element of the adults thinking they would be safe from justice there too, but there’s a reason they hid the children.
Well those kids could potentially
— specify who did what to Sara
- name any others who may have been involved ie family members living elsewhere
- corroborate that similar was done to them
- explain how they asked for help/were threatened not to seek help
- tell that they were made to take part in attacks or the aftermath of attacks
I’m not being awful so don’t leap on me but I wouldn’t be surprised if a jinn is mentioned at some point.
Her poor little body. Having met a couple of pathologists I know they will have treated her kindly even as they performed the autopsy, they will have had respect and care for her and it's so sad that she wasn't shown that by her own father and step mother when she was alive.I found this this has more information on the autopsy , I feel terrible for herSara Sharif had more than 70 recent injuries after her death, court told
The Old Bailey heard Sara suffered significant damage internally, including bleeding on the surface level of her brain and multiple skeletal…www.whitchurchherald.co.uk
I am glad that her teacher could describe her a little and give us some idea of her personality and that she did have some joy in her life even briefly. I'm an atheist but I hope there is some sort of paradise afterlife for her.
My problem with this line of argument is that it only seems to be SS protected by the “well the ones I know are good”.
Nobody is saying there aren’t good social workers and the larger problem isn’t funding and work load, but it seems like you can’t ever question an SS decision without people attempting to shout you down with that. Sometimes those are the reasons, sometimes people make genuine mistakes and sometimes it will be sheer incompetence or lack of caring/it will do attitude. No profession is made up of 100% caring people who do their best 24/7 but are hampered by workload and lack of funding and 100% of mistakes are genuine due to that. It’s great that the social workers you know are good, it really is, but not every social worker is like that and it should be allowed to question whether in specific cases a failing is actually due to someone doing a bad job.
If someone was questioning whether a medical professional had been incompetent, there wouldn’t be the same “well all the GPs I know are good and overworked” people seem much more inclined to acknowledge that occasionally there are ones that aren’t good and talking about that isn’t slating them all.
A cricket bat. Jesus christ.I found this this has more information on the autopsy , I feel terrible for herSara Sharif had more than 70 recent injuries after her death, court told
The Old Bailey heard Sara suffered significant damage internally, including bleeding on the surface level of her brain and multiple skeletal…
Seeing her smiling face is breaking my heart.
Without starting a debate on the death penalty - the people responsible for doing this to Sara do not deserve the air that they breathe!
But that's not the point I was making. It's that good people are doing a poor job not because they don't care or can't be arsed but because there is a systemic failure to recognise and validate the work they do. So funding is poor, workloads are high and it's virtually impossible to do a good job. My friend left because she couldn't bare to do an adequate or bare minimum job for children who deserve the world. I do not believe that a single person goes into social work to be tit at their job, it's essentially vocational because it's crap money for what's involved and the pressure and stress are unbearable whilst the stakes for any human error are huge.
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