Jury Hears Testimony That Restaurant Worker Videocalled Wife’s Lover While Committing Murder
A prosecutor presented video evidence to a murder trial jury, showing a Bangladeshi restaurant worker making a video call to his wife’s lover as he allegedly killed her.
In London, Aminan Rahman, 47, is accused of killing his 24-year-old wife, Suma Begum, who went missing on April 30, 2023. Her body was later found in a suitcase washed up in Thamesmead, southeast London.
During the trial, the jury saw two video clips from the WhatsApp video call, which prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward described as potentially distressing, showing Suma either dead or dying. After the call, Rahman was seen leaving the apartment where the alleged murder took place with his children.
Ledward further explained that shortly after the call, CCTV footage captured Rahman moving a suitcase outside the apartment building, pushing it over the railings into the nearby river. The suitcase containing Suma Begum’s body was found over 10 days later, washed up on the riverbank.
The court heard that Rahman and Begum, both from the Sylhet region of Bangladesh, had little knowledge of English. They had an arranged marriage in 2019 and had two children together. Begum had arrived in the UK on a spouse visa sponsored by another man, suggesting a possible sham marriage to bypass immigration laws.
Begum had apparently started a relationship with another man, Shahin Miah, living in Abu Dhabi, which led to marital issues. The prosecutor detailed how Rahman threatened Miah during a videot call, eventually confessing to killing Suma while showing her lifeless body to Miah.
The trial is expected to continue for several weeks.
