Migrant on student visa murdered wife while she pushed their baby in a pram

Telegraph

21 hours ago

A migrant who came to the UK on a student visa murdered his wife after tracking her to a women's refuge in Bradford.
Habibur Masum, 26, stabbed Kulsuma Akter, 27, in broad daylight in April last year before walking away, leaving her 'bleeding to death in the gutter' and their seven-month-old son behind in a pram.
Jurors heard the couple had met and married in Bangladesh, and came to the UK in 2022 after he obtained a student visa and enrolled on a Masters course to study marketing.
The defendant, who gave evidence through a Bengali interpreter, told the trial they initially had a long-distance relationship as he lived in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, while studying and she lived in Oldham, Greater Manchester, with her brother.
Masum followed Akter to the refuge in Bradford where she had been staying to escape him after he held a knife to her throat following an assault at the home they had moved to in Oldham.
After finding her through her phone location, Masum was seen on CCTV in the days leading up to the fatal attack 'loitering, watching and waiting' in streets around the hostel, jurors heard.
He sent her messages threatening to kill her family members if she did not return to him, before trying to lure her out by sending her fake messages from a GP practice pretending their son had an appointment and warning of 'increasingly dire consequences' if she did not attend.
Bradford Crown Court heard Akter eventually felt safe enough to leave the refuge on April 6 last year after Masum updated his Facebook page, falsely claiming to be in Spain.
As she was walking in the city centre with a friend, pushing her baby in a pram, Masum confronted her, the trial heard.
Stephen Wood KC, prosecuting, told jurors Masum was seen on CCTV trying to steer her and the pram away before pulling a knife from his jacket and launching the 'brutal attack' when he realised she was not coming with him.
CCTV footage of the attack, played during the trial, showed that Masum stabbed her at least 25 times, put her on the ground and kicked her 'as a final insult' before lifting her head and cutting her throat.
Mr Wood said the 'smiling killer' then calmly walked through Bradford city centre and was seen on CCTV grinning as he got on a bus, 'believing at that point he was getting away'.
Jurors heard that Masum then travelled almost 200 miles south to Aylesbury and was arrested in the early hours of April 9 in a car park near Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where he had gone to be treated for 'lockjaw'.
During the trial, Masum refused to watch footage of the attack, but jurors heard that he had requested to see it during his first police interview, with Mr Wood saying he wanted to see what officers 'had on him'.
When he gave evidence, Masum said he did not remember killing his wife and had taken a knife with him intending to stab himself in front of her if she did not 'listen to him'.
He broke down in tears as he claimed to have 'lost control' when Akter told him there would be no shortage of people willing to replace him as a father to their son.
But Mr Wood said his tears 'were as fake as his claims of self-harm' and that 'the only person Habibur Masum feels sorry for is himself'. He said antagonising Masum was 'the very last thing Kulsuma would do' as she knew what he was capable of.
Mr Wood said the relationship between Masum and Akter was 'an abusive relationship characterised by his jealousy, possessiveness and controlling behaviour'.
Jurors heard that in August 2022, Masum was found by police at a tram station, where he had stayed all night after an argument with Akter.
He was taken to hospital where he told a doctor that 'when he fights with her, he feels like he is going to kill her'.
The pair moved into a house in Oldham together in September 2022.
In July 2023, Akter went to stay with her brother because of Masum's controlling behaviour, leading him to threaten to harm himself with a knife before she returned.
On Nov 23 that year, he became jealous over a 'completely innocuous' message she received from a male colleague, grabbing her face, slapping her and pulling her hair.
The court heard he told her: 'I am going to murder you, and the police will be taking me.'
The following day, he went into their bedroom carrying a knife and held it to her throat, jurors were told.
Akter's sister-in-law called the police and Masum was arrested, with Akter deciding to leave him and being moved to the Bradford refuge by Oldham social services in January last year.
Masum denied the November incident and claimed Akter had fabricated a domestic violence case against him as a way to stay in the UK, while he wanted to return to Bangladesh.
The court heard that while Akter was at the refuge, Masum sent her a photo of the front of the building with a message saying: 'I know that you are living in this place. I knew from the first day you moved here.
'If I had any wish to kill you, I could have from the first day. You do not know what you have lost but one day you will understand. Nobody will love you like I do.'
The court heard Akter's social worker arranged for her to be rehoused and she was due to move on April 8, but in the meantime, she heard from Masum's brother that he was in Spain, and 'felt safe to leave the refuge' on the day she was killed.
Masum had pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied murder. On Friday, he was found guilty of the more serious charge, as well as one charge of assault, one count of making threats to kill and one charge of stalking. He pleaded guilty to possession of a knife in public.