The mother of a two-year-old girl who died after suffering more than 100 injuries was jailed after being convicted of her manslaughter today, while her partner was found guilty of murder.
Sanam Navsarka died in severe pain with fractures to all her limbs in May last year having suffered injuries from repeated beatings in the four weeks up to her death, prosecutors told Bradford Crown Court.
Her mother Zahbeena Navsarka (21) was jailed for nine years for manslaughter after being cleared of murder.
Her partner Subhan Anwar (21) was given a life sentence and told he would serve at least 23 years in jail for the girl's murder, the Press Association reported.
Prosecutor Julian Goose said either the couple carried out the repeated assaults together, or did nothing to prevent the girl suffering violence and severe injuries.
The court heard tiny handprints and bloodstains were found inside cupboards at the home in Huddersfield and also at a former property in Batley, West Yorkshire.
Anwar, who is not Sanam's father, admitted to police after his arrest that he put the girl in the cupboard as a punishment and said Navsarka punished her in the same way.
The court heard the couple had left Sanam alone and dying in their home while they went to register with their GP on the day of her death.
When the couple were interviewed by police after Sanam's death on last May, they blamed each other for the injuries the two-year-old had suffered. Sanam was found to have 107 separate external injuries when she died.
The couple claimed Sanam had stopped breathing after they left her alone in the bath for 10 minutes and returned to find her under the water. But a pathologist ruled out drowning as a cause of death.
Reuters