Husband who stabbed estranged wife in street as she pushed their baby in pram jailed for 28 years

The family of a mother murdered in front of her seven-month-old son have said they will ‘never forgive the monster’ who stabbed her to death in the street.

Habibur Masum, 26, tracked Kulsuma Akter, 27, to a refuge in Bradford where she had gone to escape his ‘violence, jealousy and controlling behaviour’.

He stabbed her at least 26 times in a ‘ferocious’ attack before leaving her ‘bleeding to death in the gutter’ next to their son in his pram. CCTV showed him smiling as he boarded a bus soon afterwards.

Judge Mr Justice Cotter jailed Masum for life at the city’s crown court today, with a minimum term of 28 years.

But Kulsuma’s family said ‘no amount of time in prison will change the life sentence he has inflicted upon us all’.

In a statement, they said: ‘Kulsuma was a much-loved daughter, sister, aunt and mother.

‘We have been left with a profound sense of emptiness and a deep and painful void in our lives.’

They added: ‘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.’

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Jurors heard Kulsuma had been moved from the family home in Oldham, Greater Manchester, after Masum assaulted her, held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her over a ‘completely innocuous’ message from a male colleague.

Kulsuma’s sister-in-law Minara Begum said she told her that Masum had stopped her wearing make-up, checked her phone to see who she was talking to, and would decide when she was allowed to leave the house – even to see her own family.

The court was told Kulsuma briefly went to live with her in-laws before returning to Masum, when his abuse and controlling behaviour ‘continued to get worse’.

Ms Begum said Masum repeatedly threatened to kill Kulsuma, adding: ‘She told me he would tell her if she ever left him, he would kill her.’

The court heard Kulsuma told her: ‘You will find my dead body some day.’

After she moved to the refuge, Ms Begum said Kulsuma told her: ‘He will be OK once he kills me.’

Tragically, she asked if her in-laws would care for her young son if Masum ever followed through on his threats.

Mr Justice Cotter said: ‘Kulsuma’s son will never know his mother.’

He told Masum: ‘Such was your behaviour that Kulsuma was able to predict her own death at your hands.’

The judge said: ‘The state had done what it could to protect her from you.

‘It is indeed a sad fact that it can be very difficult to entirely protect a woman in a refuge from a determined and cunning man intent on confrontation.’

The court heard Masum used Kulsuma’s phone location to stalk her to the refuge and posted photos on Facebook making it look like he was in Spain while travelling to Bradford to kill her.

Masum was seen on CCTV in the days leading up to the fatal attack ‘loitering, watching and waiting’ in streets around the hostel.

He tried to lure Kulsuma out by sending her fake messages from a local GP practice pretending their son had an appointment and warning of ‘increasingly dire consequences’ if she did not attend.

As she was walking in the city centre with a friend, pushing her baby in a pram, Masum confronted her.

He was seen on CCTV trying to steer her and the pram away before pulling a knife from his jacket and launching the ‘brutal attack’ when he realised she was not coming with him.

The footage captured Kulsuma’s screams as Masum stabbed her, put her on the ground and kicked her ‘as a final insult’ before lifting her head and deliberately cutting her throat.

Masum tried to hide behind his depression, claiming he took the knife with him to confront her intending to kill himself if she refused to listen to him, and pointed the finger at Kulsuma for provoking him into ‘losing control’ and attacking her.

Rubbishing his claims of being ‘distressed’ at the time, prosecutor Stephen Wood KC highlighted CCTV of Masum boarding a bus after the murder, telling jurors: ‘There were no tears, there was no distress.

‘Perhaps, members of the jury, the smile you can clearly see form as he gets on that bus is as a result of him thinking at that point he’s getting away. The smiling killer.’

He added: ‘It was not his depression which caused him to kill Kulsuma, it was his other longstanding personality traits of controlling behaviour, jealousy and paranoia. She had rejected him. She had to die.

‘And were there any residual thought that this was about seeing his son – having left his wife literally in the gutter, bleeding to death, he leaves his son alone.

‘He could so easily have walked away with him. But he knew if he walked away with that pram. it would increase his chances of getting caught.’

Mr Wood told jurors Masum’s threats of self-harm were ‘empty’ and examples of his ‘emotional blackmail’.

He said antagonising Masum was ‘the very last thing Kulsuma would do’ as she knew what he was capable of.

Mr Wood said the relationship between Masum and Ms Akter was ‘an abusive relationship characterised by his jealousy, possessiveness and controlling behaviour’.

Masum had pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied murder. He was found guilty of the more serious charge, as well as one charge of assault, one count of making threats to kill and one charge of stalking. He pleaded guilty to possession of a knife in public.

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