A man who stabbed his Oldham wife to death in has been jailed for life this morning with a minimum of 28 years
Habibur Masum stabbed Kulsuma Akter more than 25 times on Westgate, Bradford as she pushed her baby in his pram, on Saturday 6 April last year, after tracking her through her phone location
.
His trial last month heard his wife had left him after prolonged abuse, culminating in an incident where he held a knife to her throat following an assault at their home in Oldham in November 2023.
He was captured on CCTV in the days leading up to the fatal attack “loitering, watching and waiting” in streets around the hostel.
Kulsuma was living in a refuge/safe house at the time. He had previously sent her messages of a menacing nature which contained threats to kill and photos and videos of the area and premises where she was residing.
She was with her baby, who was in a pram, and a friend when she was confronted by her estranged husband, Habibur Masum. After she refused his attempts at reconciling the marriage, he proceeded to stab her multiple times which sadly led to her death later the same day.
Passing Sentence Judge Mr Justice Cotter told Masum:
“I’m sure that you can be properly described as violent, self-centred, jealous, controlling and coercive with a firmly held view your wife was not your equal.
“You stole a precious young life in a brutal and merciless fashion. It was your refusal of her to have a life free from your violence and controlling behaviour. You have shown no real remorse, only self pity.”
In a statement issued after the sentencing, Ms Akter’s family said her loss had left “a gaping hole in the lives of all her family and friends”.
It added: “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 is the only light in all this darkness and Kulsuma radiates throughout him.”
