Man says he ‘lost control’ before stabbing wife in Bradford

A man who stabbed his wife to death as she pushed their baby in a pram told a court he had intended to kill himself in front of her but “lost control”.

Kulsuma Akter, 27, suffered more than 25 knife injuries in an attack by her husband Habibur Masum, 26, after he confronted her on a street in Bradford on 6 April last year.

A trial has heard Mr Masum tracked Ms Akter to a refuge, where she had been staying since January 2024 after he allegedly held a knife to her throat following an assault at their home in Oldham in November 2023.

Mr Masum, who found Ms Akter through her phone location, said he decided to go and see his wife and seven-month-old son the night before the fatal attack.

Giving evidence through a Bengali interpreter, he told Bradford Crown Court: “On the night I was missing them so dearly and I was really upset. I thought that maybe if I killed myself I won’t hurt so much.

“Because I was really, really depressed I kept changing my mind. Sometimes I thought that maybe if I went away very far I would be able to forget her and forget my son.”

He said he was “still optimistic” he could save the marriage and told jurors his plan was “to explain to her how I’m feeling, that I don’t want to be separated from my family”.

“Then I thought that even if after all that she still doesn’t understand I will just kill myself in front of her,” Mr Masum said.

Asked how he ended up using the knife to attack Ms Akter instead, he said: “I lost my control. I tried to talk to her, I tried to explain to her about seeing my son.

“I was trying to make her consider about our child and that he needs a father.

“She said ‘you don’t need to worry about our son, there’s no lacking of a father for him’.”

He told the court: “There was a lot going through my head including maybe somebody else was going to be replacing my role, my position as father.”

Mr Masum broke down in tears as he said: “I totally lost control”, later saying that the next thing he could remember was walking along the road with bloodstains on his hand.

Asked if he remembered what he did with the knife, he said: “No.”

Mr Masum denied assaulting Ms Akter or threatening to kill her during the incident in November 2023.

He accused her of making false claims of domestic violence as a way to stay in the UK, saying he wanted to return to Bangladesh once his visa expired, and she did not.

The court heard he told police at the time: “She knows if you suspect your husband the law will take you and keep you safe so you won’t have to go back home.”

Asked about this, Mr Masum told the trial: “I tried to explain to them that she was trying to make false allegations against me to create a domestic violence case to appeal to stay in the UK.”

He repeated the claim he made to police that he believed Ms Akter had caused the bruising on her face herself.

Mr Masum denies murdering Ms Akter but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a knife.

He also denies two charges of assault, one count of making threats to kill and one charge of stalking.

The trial continues.