A man who killed his wife as she pushed their seven-month-old baby in a pram has been handed a life sentence, with a minimum term of 28 years.
Habibur Masum, 26, was last month found guilty of murdering Kulsuma Akter, 27, in a “ferocious” knife attack after tracing her to a refuge she was staying in to escape his “violence, jealousy and controlling behaviour”, a court heard.
He was also found guilty of one count of assault, one of making threats to kill and one charge of stalking.
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Barry Cotter told Masum: “Having considered the entirety of the evidence, I’m sure that you can be properly described as violent, self-centred, jealous, controlling and coercive with a firmly held view that your wife was not your equal and should do what you told her to do.”
Ms Akter’s family called Masum a “monster,” saying: “We do not wish to utter his name. It does not deserve to be mentioned.
“The monster who savagely took Kulsuma from not only us, but also from her baby son. He will never know her beauty and her kindness.”
Ms Akter suffered more than 25 knife injuries after Masum found her through her phone location and confronted her in a street in Bradford, West Yorkshire, on 6 April last year.
The judge added that the “nature and extent” of Masum’s attack “proves beyond all reasonable doubt that you intended to kill her,” and that Ms Akter’s wounds were “unsurvivable, as was your intention”.
After fleeing the scene, Masum boarded a bus and CCTV footage showed him smiling, prosecutor Steve Wood KC told Bradford Crown Court.
He was arrested after a four-day manhunt, having been found 150 miles away in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, where he and Ms Akter lived when they first came to the UK from Bangladesh.
Kulsuma Akter. Pic: Family handout/PA
He had already pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a knife but denied murder, claiming he had intended to kill himself in front of his wife but “totally lost control”.
In a victim impact statement read to the court on Tuesday, Ms Akter’s brother Imran Hussain said he “cannot comprehend that this has happened” to his “baby sister”.
“My parents still struggle with losing their daughter, their youngest daughter, their baby,” he added.
“There is now such a deep, painful void in our lives.
“She did not deserve what she experienced at the hands of Masum.
“This for us will be a life sentence.”
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