Chef who strangled wife in front of kids and TikTok lover before throwing her body into river jailed for 22 years

Wednesday, July 31, 2024 - A chef who strangled his wife to death in front of their young children and her TikTok lover before stuffing her body inside a suitcase has been jailed for 22 years.

Aminan Rahman, 47, strangled his 24-year-old wife, Suma Begum with her scarf at a flat in Docklands, east London, on the night of April 29, 2023.

While attacking her, he video called Begum’s boyfriend, Shahin Miah, 24, and said; ‘Because of you this happened.’

Rahman forced Ms Begum into a suitcase before throwing her into the River Lea as their young son watched on.

Miah cried in court as he described the video call.

Speaking through an interpreter, he said: ‘She wanted to run away and he then grabbed her throat.’

There were ‘three screaming sounds’ before the video froze and nothing more could be seen after Rahman’s initial lunge.

In a second video call from Rahman that night, the defendant told Mr Miah: ‘Look, I have killed (Ms Begum) and now you get ready.’

Her body was found 10 days later after being found washed up by the side of the Thames River.

The couple had married in an arranged Islamic ceremony over the phone in 2019 while Ms Begum lived in Bangladesh.

Begum later met Miah, who lived in the United Arab Emirates, on social media in 2021 and began an ‘intimate, sexual’ relationship online.

Miah told Rahman about their relationship after he found out Ms Begum was married, but they continued to stay together.

Begum’s half brother Abdul Amin said: ‘When Suman first came to the UK she was beautiful woman who enjoyed spending time with us, but this changed and she lost a lot of weight and became very withdrawn.

‘We later learned through Suman’s sister, Lubna Begum, who lives in Bangladesh, that Suman wanted to tell us about how Aminan was abusing her, but he threatened to kill her if she did.’

She added: ‘We have had to listen to Aminan telling the court how much he loved his children, but how can that be true when he attacked and killed their mum in front of them?

‘He had deprived them of the childhood they should have had. They are going to have to grow up and learn if how he killed and dumped their mum’s body in a river and we cannot begin to imagine the pain they are going to have to endure.’

Prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward KC had told jurors: ‘It is clear this young woman was no longer happy in her marriage, she was fairly openly in a relationship with another man, and she had expressed the desire to leave the defendant, something about which neither he nor her family were happy.

‘But whether he was motivated by rage, shame, or pure jealousy, or a more complex mix of cultural expectations and emotions, may not matter.

‘The prosecution case is that on the night of April 29-30, shortly before midnight, Shahin Miah witnessed the murder of Suma Begum by the defendant on a video call which he recorded.

‘What he observed part of was the deliberate strangulation of Suma Begum days before her body was found."

The judge, Mr Justice Bennathan jailed Rahman for life with a minimum sentence of 22 years.

The judge called the victim was ‘a lively, attractive young woman and a devoted mother.’

‘She had dreamed of a new, different life with a man her own age which dreams you stopped on April 29 last year when you very deliberately killed her.

‘Within moments of strangling Ms Begum, you folded her body into a suitcase and threw it into the Thames basin, hoping it would never be found.

‘All this was done in the sight of her two year old son.’