Man found guilty of wife’s murder – MASHAHER

A man who strangled his wife for having an online affair and dumped her body in a river has been found guilty of murder.

Aminan Rahman, 46, from east London, killed 24-year-old Suma Begum in April 2023.

The Old Bailey heard how Rahman put her into a suitcase after attacking her, at which point she might still have been alive.

The assault on Ms Begum was captured on a video call with her boyfriend. Rahman is due to be sentenced on 31 July.

The court heard that Rahman had “most likely” killed Ms Begum “there and then” at their flat in Tower Hamlets, but had at the very least “incapacitated” her before placing her body in the suitcase and dumping it in the River Lea.

“If not already dead by then, she would have inevitably have drowned,” said prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward.

The suitcase was found 10 days later by a member of the public washed up on the riverbank downstream, still containing the body of Ms Begum.

Rahman pleaded guilty before his trial to a charge of preventing the lawful and decent burial of her body.

Ms Begum had undergone an Islamic marriage over the telephone in 2019 when Rahman was in London and she was in Bangladesh, the court heard.

They had first lived in Somerset as husband and wife, where Rahman worked as a chef, before moving to east London in April 2023 where they stayed at a flat in the Docklands with their two children.

Ms Begum had started an “intimate” online relationship with a man her own age, Shanin Miah, who was living in the United Arab Emirates, and they “hoped in due course to be together”, said Ms Ledward.

On the night of Ms Begum’s murder, her neighbours heard children screaming and a loud bang against the wall.

That same night, the jury heard, Mr Miah received a WhatsApp video call from Rahman.

When he gave evidence during the one-month trial, Mr Miah sobbed as he told jurors how Rahman had threatened to kill Ms Begum, who was in the background of the call.

“She wanted to run away and then he grabbed her by the throat,” he said.

The court heard how Mr Miah received another call later that night in which Rahman told him: “Look, I have killed [her] and now you get ready.”

Mr Miah told the Old Bailey: “I saw that frothing was coming out of Suma’s mouth and he showed me on the video and he was swearing at me.”

The jury was shown CCTV of Rahman leaving the flat he shared with his wife shortly afterwards, carrying one of their children and pulling a large black suitcase.

Further footage was played of Rahman lifting the suitcase on to a metal barrier and pushing it into the River Lea.

“There is no dispute that Suma Begum was in that suitcase – placed there by the defendant,” said Ms Ledward.

Giving evidence in his defence, Rahman claimed that his wife had demanded money from him to help her boyfriend join her in England.

He alleged that she had threatened to hit their elder child unless he gave her £10,000.

Rahman also claimed he had then grabbed his wife around the neck with both hands in order to defend the child, when Ms Begum collapsed to the floor.

He then “panicked” and put her body into a suitcase, the court heard.