A man is facing life in jail for strangling his young wife in front of her lover and throwing her body, hidden inside a suitcase, into a tributary of the River Thames.
As reported by The Standard, on Wednesday, Aminan Rahman, 46, was found guilty by a jury of murdering 24-year-old Suma Begum in a flat in east London on the night of April 29 last year.
Rahman Killed Begum While Her Boyfriend was on Video Call, Then Stuffed Her Body in a Suitcase
The killing was witnessed by Ms Begum’s two children as well as her online boyfriend via a video call from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he was living.
Rahman then stuffed Ms Begum into a suitcase while she was either dead or unconscious and was caught on CCTV dumping it in the River Lea, which runs through east London to the Thames. The suitcase containing her decomposed body was found washed up on the river bank 10 days later.
Begum’s Lover Recorded the Video Call, Provided it as Evidence to Police
The court heard that Ms Begum’s boyfriend, Shahin Miah, 24, had recorded an online video of the events leading to her death, which was later handed to police. Mr Miah sobbed in court as he described a video call from Rahman in which he threatened to kill Ms Begum, who was on the bed in the background.
Rahman also threatened to kill Mr Miah, who was in the UAE at the time, the court heard. Speaking through an interpreter, Mr Miah said: “She wanted to run away and he then grabbed her throat.”
There were “three screaming sounds” before the video froze and nothing more could be seen after Rahman’s initial lunge. In a second video call from Rahman that night, the defendant told Mr Miah: “Look, I have killed (Ms Begum) and now you get ready.” Mr Miah told jurors he saw Ms Begum frothing at the mouth in the video.
Rahman and Begum Had an Arranged Marriage but 2 Years Later She Fell for Miah
Ms Begum had married the defendant in an arranged Islamic ceremony over the phone in 2019. In 2020, she travelled from Bangladesh to live with the restaurant worker in Somerset and they had two children.
A year later, Ms Begum met Mr Miah via social media app TikTok, later moving on to WhatsApp. About seven or eight months into their “intimate, sexual” online relationship, Mr Miah found out she was married to Rahman, he said. However, the pair continued their relationship.
Rahman Said He Killed Begum in Self-Defense
Giving evidence, Rahman accepted killing Ms Begum but claimed he never intended to harm her and had acted in the defence of the older child. He claimed Ms Begum had threatened to kill the two-year-old and had thrown the child against a wall. But, the prosecution rejected his claim.
Following a month-long trial, a jury deliberated for four hours and 27 minutes to find Rahman guilty of all the charges against him. Mr Justice Bennathan remanded Rahman into custody to be sentenced on July 31.
