Habibur Masum, who stabbed his wife Kulsuma Akter to death as she pushed their baby in a pram in April last year, has been jailed for life at Bradford CrownCourt with a minimum term of 28 years.
Habibur Masum, 27, was found guilty of murdering Kulsuma Akter in a “ferocious” knife attack in broad daylight after tracking her to a women’s refuge in Bradford where she had been staying to escape him after he held a knife to her throat at their home in Greater Manchester.
He left his wife bleeding to death and calmly walked away, leaving their seven-month-old son behind.
The family of murder victim Kulsuma Akter have said in a statement “we will never forgive the monster who took Kulsuma from us,” after her killer was jailed for life. They added they have been left with a “painful void in our lives”.
The Crown Prosecution Service described the murder as “callous” and “shocking”.
Marie Walsh, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Habibur Masum is a violent and dangerous man who subjected his estranged wife to violence and domestic abuse causing her to flee their home to live in a safehouse in Bradford.”
“We hope the imprisonment of Masum has brought some comfort to the family and friends of Kulsuma,” she added.
Masum found Kulsuma Akter through her phone location and loitered in streets around the hostel before sending her messages threatening to kill her family members if she did not return to him. He then tried to lure her out by sending her fake messages from a local GP practice pretending their son had an appointment.
The court heard Ms Akter eventually felt safe enough to leave the refuge on April 6 last year after Masum updated his Facebook page falsely claiming to be in Spain.
As she was walking in the city centre with a friend, pushing her baby in a pram, Masum confronted her, the trial heard.
CCTV footage of the attack captured Ms Akter’s screams as Masum stabbed her at least 25 times.
Jurors heard he then calmly walked through Bradford city centre and was seen on CCTV grinning as he got on a bus, believing at that point he was getting away.
Masum travelled almost 200 miles south to Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, and was arrested in the early hours of April 9 in a car park near Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where he had gone to be treated for “lockjaw”.
The trial heard the relationship between Masum and Ms Akter was “an abusive relationship characterised by his jealousy, possessiveness and controlling behaviour”.
The couple met and married in Bangladesh, and came to the UK in 2022 after he obtained a student visa and enrolled on a Masters course to study marketing.
They moved into a house in Oldham together in September 2022.
On November 23 2023, he became jealous over a “completely innocuous” message Ms Akter received from a male colleague and held a knife to her throat.
He was arrested and Ms Akter decided to leave him, being moved to the Bradford refuge by Oldham social services in January 2024.
Kulsuma Akter’s family said in a statement: “Kulsuma was a much-loved daughter, sister, aunt and mother. Her loss has left a gaping hole in the lives of all her family and friends.
“We have been left with a profound sense of emptiness and a deep and painful void in our lives. She was a loving, caring and kind soul with a generous nature, and touched the lives of everyone she came into contact with. As a family we miss her beautiful smile which would light up any room she entered. We will miss her humour, her kindness and her love.
“We will never forgive the monster who took Kulsuma from us and 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. He will never know his mother, other than the memories we as a family will share with him as he grows. He is the only light in all this darkness and Kulsuma radiates throughout him.
“Although we are grateful for the judicial process that found him guilty of this crime and for the sentence he has received today, no amount of time in prison will change the life sentence he has inflicted upon us all.
“No family should have to endure the pain and heartache we have had to endure since he took Kulsuma’s life so horrifically. We can only try and keep her memory alive by continuing to love her and to remember her name.”
