A man faces life in prison for strangling his young wife in front of her lover and dumping her body, hidden in a suitcase, into a river.
On Wednesday, Aminan Rahman, 46, was found guilty of murdering 24-year-old Suma Begum in a flat in east London on April, according to The Standard. The killing was witnessed by Ms. Begum’s two children and her online boyfriend, who saw it via a video call from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Rahman then put Ms. Begum in a suitcase, dead or unconscious, and was seen on CCTV dumping it in the River Lea, a tributary of the Thames. Her body, decomposed, was found on the riverbank 10 days later. Ms. Begum’s boyfriend, Shahin Miah, 24, recorded a video of the events leading to her death and gave it to the police. In court, Mr. Miah cried as he described Rahman threatening to kill Ms. Begum during a video call, with her visible on the bed in the background.
Rahman also threatened to kill Mr. Miah, who was in the UAE at the time. Mr. Miah, speaking through an interpreter, said that Ms. Begum wanted to run away, but Rahman grabbed her throat. There were three screams before the video froze. In another video call that night, Rahman told Mr. Miah he had killed Ms. Begum and warned him to get ready. Mr. Miah saw Ms. Begum frothing at the mouth in the video.
Ms. Begum had married Rahman in an arranged Islamic ceremony over the phone in 2019 and moved from Bangladesh to live with him in Somerset in 2020. They had two children. A year later, she met Mr. Miah on TikTok, and their relationship moved to WhatsApp. About seven or eight months into their relationship, Mr. Miah learned she was married, but they continued seeing each other.
In court, Rahman admitted to killing Ms. Begum but claimed he did not intend to harm her and was defending their older child. He said Ms. Begum had threatened to kill the two-year-old and had thrown the child against a wall. The prosecution rejected this claim.
After a month-long trial, the jury took four hours and 27 minutes to find Rahman guilty of all charges. Mr. Justice Bennathan ordered Rahman to be held in custody until his sentencing on July 31.
