A man who strangled his wife with her scarf in front of their children and threw her body into the river in a suitcase because she was having an affair has been jailed for 22 years.
Aminan Rahman, 46, murdered 24-year-old Suma Begum while on a video call with her lover Shahin Miah, 24.
Ms Begum’s lifeless body could be seen in the video call at the flat in Docklands, east London, as Rahman shouted at Mr Miah: ‘Because of you this has happened.’
Rahman then went on to cram her body into a suitcase in front of their two year old son and four month old daughter, before chucking it in the River Lea.
Ms Begum’s body was found ten days later by a mudlarker after the suitcase washed up by the banks of the Thames.
The boy had thought it was a game when his mother died and climbed underneath a blanket with her after she had been strangled.
Rahman also took the boy with him when we went down to the River Lea near the flat and hurled the body into the water.
The court went on to hear that the little boy is likely to bear permanent psychological scars from witnessing his mother’s murder.
He has been slow to talk properly and sits staring out the window with a glazed expression.
The youngster is terrified of Asian men and tries to poke doll’s eyes out with sharp implements.
Rahman had left the children with relatives while he went on the run to Bournemouth.
The judge, Mr Justice Bennathan jailed Rahman for life with a minimum sentence of 22 years.
He said the victm was ‘a lively, attractive young woman and a devoted mother.’
‘She had dreamed of a new, different life with a man her own age which dreams you stopped on April 29 last year when you very deliberately killed her.
‘Within moments of strangling Ms Begum, you folded her body into a suitcase and threw it into the Thames basin, hoping it would never be found.
‘All this was done in the sight of her two year old son.’
In a victim impact statement on behalf of the victim’s family, Ms Begum’s half brother Abdul Amin said: ‘When Suman first came to the UK she was beautiful woman who enjoyed spending time with us, but this changed and she lost a lot of weight and became very withdrawn.
‘We later learned through Suman’s sister, Lubna Begum, who lives in Bangladesh, that Suman wanted to tell us about how Aminan was abusing her, but he threatened to kill her if she did.’
She added: ‘We have had to listen to Aminan telling the court how much he loved his children, but how can that be true when he attacked and killed their mum in front of them?
‘He had deprived them of the childhood they should have had. They are going to have to grow up and learn if how he killed and dumped their mum’s body in a river and we cannot begin to imagine the pain they are going to have to endure.’
Mr Amin said ‘people we do not know have been making horrible comments on social media about Suman.
‘At times it felt like Suma was being blamed for her own death and that her actions meant she deserved it.
‘The reason this happened is because Aminan is a selfish and jealous man who could not stand the fact his wife no longer wanted to be in a relationship with him.
‘No matter where you are from, or what culture you are from, a woman should never been killed by their husband or partner and no child should have to lose a parent in this way.’
The court heard Ms Begum had moved to the UK in 2020 after marrying Rahman in an arranged marriage over the phone.
Rahman denied murder and an assault on Ms Begum on 6 February 2023 where he left scratches on her neck but he was unanimously convicted by an Old Bailey jury.
He admitted preventing an unlawful burial by disposing of her body, claiming he had accidentally strangled her then panicked and threw the body in the river.
Rahman first came to the UK 20 years ago and worked as a chef at an Indian restaurant.
His wife depended on him financially and he used this to make her do his bidding.
Mr Miah was living in Abu Dhabi when he received a video call from Rahman, who was with Ms Begum.
Rahman tried to get the couple to refer to each other as ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ because he was insulted they had called him ‘dad’ and ‘old man’ due to his age.
A sobbing Mr Miah had told the court: ‘Aminan was swearing at me and he was telling me to call her my mum.
‘Suma was on the bed, [her child] was sitting close to her and you can see in the video he was showing me Suma and telling to me Suma do not want you.
‘Suma then put her hands on her head and he then bring [her child] close to her and put his hand on [the child’s] head, he was telling Suma ‘I will kill everybody.’
‘He was shouting ‘if you don’t calls Suma your mum now I will kill her now.’
‘I called Suma my mum and I told him to leave her alone, don’t do anything to her.’
‘Suma wanted to run away and to call the police.
‘She did not call me dad and that’s when he grabbed her throat.’
She screamed, and the video froze before the line cut.
Mr Miah screen recorded the call but the recording did not have sound.
Rahman sobbed as he told the court Mr Miah had ordered his wife to attack the children and he killed by accident when he was trying to defend them.
‘I put both my hands around her neck. She dropped to the floor. I was shocked. I was panicking,’ he said.
‘Then I picked up the phone and I called Miah back and said: ‘Because of you this has happened.’
Jurors saw footage of the video call with Mrs Begum lying lifeless in the background with her son crying next to her.
Rahman then put his wife’s body into the suitcase and threw her in the river.
He said: ‘I don’t know what I was thinking. I was panicking so much. I don’t know how and why I did it.’
Rahman said that he had thought about calling the police but he did not know the address he was at and ‘I wouldn’t be able to explain everything.’
Prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward, KC, said: ‘CCTV footage shows the defendant pulling a suitcase outside the block of flats, to the railings above the river which was nearby, pushing the suitcase over the railings into the water below.
‘If not already dead by then, she would inevitably have drowned.’
Rahman told the jury he had previously seen Ms Begum hitting their two-year-old son, leading to the earlier assault, and that she had earlier threatened that she would drink bleach to kill their unborn child.
Ms Ledward said: ‘For some time up until her death in April 2023, all had not been well with the marriage between Ms Begum and the defendant.
‘Ms Begum had started a relationship with a man closer to her own age, Shahin Miah.
‘Mr Miah says they were intimate with each other over videocalls and that they hoped in due course to be together.
‘Suma was open about this relationship with Shahin Miah on her TikTok account.
‘According to Mr Miah, the defendant was not happy about the relationship either, and threatened him a number of times.’
Ms Begum planned to leave Rahman to be with Mr Miah and tried to get her husband to help her get Mr Miah into the country, the court heard.
On 6 February 2023 Ms Begum sent videos to her boyfriend on WhatsApp showing scratches to her neck, the court heard.
She said Rahman had ‘come to kill her’ and had ‘taken her breath way’ and ‘almost killed me around my neck.’
On 24 April 2023 the couple and the children moved to London staying in a flat with a relative.
After dumping his wife’s body Rahman left the flat just after midnight pushing a buggy with both children inside.
CCTV showed Rahman making his way to Brick Lane and trying to find a shop to enter.
He was seen by an off-duty social worker and when questioned said he was buying lollipops for the children, the court heard.
Thinking this was odd at 1am, the social worker called the police, ushering Rahman into a nearby shop when he remained until the police arrived.
They returned to the flat but police decided the children were safe with other family members present police and left.
In the morning of 30 April Rahman took a train to Bournemouth before coming back to London that evening, the court heard.
His landlady Bibi Begum, who had been left with the children, called the police who searched the flat and found Suma Begum’s mobile phone.
Rahman was arrested in Whitechapel on 2 May 2023 and when told he was being arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife, he said: ‘She’s not my wife, she’s my friend.’
A post-mortem found a scarf tied tightly around Ms Begum’s neck, and the pathologist concluded that the cause of death was consistent with ligature compression of the neck.
Ms Ledward said: ‘It is clear this young woman was no longer happy in her marriage, she was fairly openly in a relationship with another man, and she had expressed the desire to leave the defendant, something about which neither he nor her family were happy.
‘But whether he was motivated by rage, shame, or pure jealousy, or a more complex mix of cultural expectations and emotions, may not matter.
‘The prosecution say that, bearing in mind that rapid, determined and callous response and what can be seen the video, at the time he caused her death he clearly intended to kill her or at least to cause her serious bodily harm and therefore he is guilty of murder.’
Rahman was assisted in court by a Sylheti interpreter but has some knowledge of English, while Ms Begum spoke little English.
Rahman denied but was convicted of murder and assault.
He admitted preventing a lawful burial.
His barrister, Mark Borrelli, KC told the court Rahman did have ‘genuine love’ for the victim.
‘He has totally destroyed any hope he had for a future relationship with those children.’