A wife was ‘shameless and unrepentant’ about her relationship with another man before she was killed by her husband and dumped in the river in a suitcase, a court heard.
Suma Begum, 24, was allegedly strangled by Aminan Rahman, 47, after he found out about her TikTok relationship with 24-year-old Shahin Miah.
Rahman attacked his wife in front of their young children at their Docklands flat on the night of 29 April 2023 before putting her into a suitcase which he dumped in the River Lea, the Old Bailey heard.
Rahman, who worked as a chef at an Indian restaurant, was video calling his wife’s TikTok boyfriend, Mr Miah, making threats to him when he attacked her, jurors have been told.
Ms Begum had moved to the UK in 2020 after marrying Rahman over the phone and their children were aged two and four months old when she died.
Rahman denies murder and an earlier assault on Ms Begum on 6 February 2023.
She had video called Mr Miah on 6 February saying Rahman had attacked her and showed him marks on her neck.
Rahman claims he had accepted that Ms Begum was going to leave him and that she was threatening to kill their children when she was killed.
In her closing speech to the jury prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward, KC, said that witnesses had said the married couple seemed ‘fine’ in the lead up to her death and had not said anything about them agreeing to separate.
‘If that was the plan it seemed to be a very private one,’ she said.
‘If he was upset she was giving money he had earned to her lover you would perhaps have every sympathy. But that was not his evidence.
‘You may have sympathy that at that stage of his marriage the defendant was hurt, angry, upset and worried about the effect the state of the marriage would have on his children.
‘He had every right to be all of those things but that was not his evidence..’
Ms Ledward reminded the jury that Rahman had told them he had no problem with Ms Begum leaving him and that he planned to give her all the help she needed to get Mr Miah to the UK.
‘The idea he had accepted the marriage had ended is at odds with the fact he continued to bed her when he came to see her with the children.
‘In a text message he said ‘you are still my wife so I will do it.’
‘It is impossible to reconcile the defendant’s obvious love for his children with the idea he would simply let his wife go and live with another man while they were so young.
‘And even if he thought that that would be 10 years or so away and the children would be under his control by then the messages do not leave that impression.
‘Any hope she would stay with him must have been fading as 2022 ran into 2023.’
Ms Ledward said Rahman’s explanation of 6 February assault was not credible.
He said she had picked up a knife and threatened the children.
‘There is no dispute the defendant caused the scratches to Suma’s neck which can be seen.
‘Only a very serious threat could justify that as reasonable force.
‘If what he says is true why would he have then left both children behind with Suma?’
Ms Ledward said Rahman had not mentioned a knife or the children in his messages to Ms Begum after the event.
Ms Ledward said Ms Begum had not reported the incident to police like ‘thousands’ of other women who are victims of domestic abuse.
‘If she called the police against the defendant it would be a huge leap into the unknown. She was isolated with no one around.
Ms Ledward said: ‘Suma had done what many in her community must have considered to be unthinkable.
‘She had done something so bad the defendant felt it necessary to drag her and the children to London have a confrontation with her family about it. So bad her family disowned her.
‘A young woman who had an arranged marriage, who wore a headscarf and dressed modestly in public- she had not only engaged in a romantic relationship with a young man on the other side of the world, a poor man unknown to her family, but she had engaged in an explicit relationship with that man.
‘And instead of being ashamed, she was shameless and unrepentant.
‘If her family disowned her because of what she had done do you really believe the defendant, would be supportive?
‘He may have been saying from time to time it was all fine but every so often that simmering resentment came to the fore just as it had done on 6 February with highly violent consequences.’
Ms Ledward said Ms Begum hid her phone on the day she was killed because she was scared of the defendant.
‘It can’t have been a particularly happy time in Curtis House for those last couple of days. With Suma seemingly confined in her last 24 hours to her flat despite the sunshine outside.
‘She hides her telephone in the the pillow protector on the bed and leaves it there and has nothing to do with it all night.
‘What possible explanation can there be other than fear of the defendant seeing her using the phone that night?’
Rahman denies murder and assault. He admits preventing a lawful burial.
The trial continues.