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A “violent, jealous and controlling” man who stabbed his wife to death after tracking her and their baby son to a women’s refuge has been found guilty of her murder.
Habibur Masum, 26, launched the “ferocious” attack on 27-year-old Kulsuma Akter as she pushed their baby in a pram, and walked away, leaving her “bleeding to death in the gutter”.
Akter had fled to a refuge to escape his “violence, jealousy and controlling behaviour”, Bradford crown court heard, but Masum tracked her down and confronted her on the street in Bradford, West Yorkshire, on 6 April 2024.
Akter was stabbed more than 25 times in the attack after Masum found her through her phone’s location. Masum was seen on CCTV in the days leading up to the fatal attack “loitering, watching and waiting” in streets around the refuge, jurors were told.
Following a four-day hunt, police found Masum 150 miles away in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, and arrested him.
He denied murdering Akter; instead, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a knife. He also claimed he intended to end his own life in front of his wife, but “totally lost control”.
Masum was also convicted of one count of assault, making threats to kill and one charge of stalking, but was cleared of another charge of assault.
The court heard that Masum had a history of violence towards his wife, and that she had told a social worker she “believed that one day her husband would kill her”.
At the time of Atker’s murder, Masum was under strict bail conditions to stay away from her, after holding a knife to her throat at their home in Greater Manchester.
Prosecutor Steve Wood KC told the jury Masum tracked Akter to Bradford and, days before the attack, tried to lure her into leaving the refuge by pretending to be from a GP’s surgery and offering her fake appointments.
He said the relationship between Masum and Akter was “an abusive relationship characterised by his jealousy, possessiveness and controlling behaviour”.
Akter was accompanied by a friend as she pushed her seven-month-old son in a pram when Masum, whom she thought was in Spain, confronted her.
CCTV from around 3pm showed Masum walking with Akter until he stopped her, spun her and the pram around, and stabbed her, causing her to fall to the ground. Masum then continued “a ferocious and deadly attack” that Wood called “cold-blooded, calculated, premeditated murder”.
“As a final act of sheer gratuitous violence, he kicks Kulsuma before moving away, but not before ensuring that he disposed of the knife,” the prosecutor added.
He said the “smiling killer” 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”.
Providing testimony through his Bengali interpreter, Masum told the jury he was “still optimistic” he could save his marriage when he tracked down his wife, but if that did not work, he thought: “I will just kill myself in front of her.”
He added that he “totally lost control”, and that the next thing he could remember was walking along the road with bloodstains on his hand.
DCI Stacey Atkinson of the homicide and major enquiry team was the senior investigating officer. She said: “Kulsuma suffered a brutal attack in broad daylight whilst her baby son was in his pram.
“Masum carried out the murder, then calmly walked away as if nothing had happened. He left the scene and made his way out of the city to try and escape justice.
“A nationwide manhunt for Masum was launched, and he was subsequently arrested and charged with Kulsuma’s murder.
“Kulsuma’s family have been left absolutely devastated by her death, I hope today’s conviction will bring them a sense of justice in knowing that the man responsible for her death has been found guilty.
