I did not blame her for my wife leaving me
MURDER ACCUSED SAYS MOTHER-IN-LAW FOUND DEAD WAS ‘LIKE MUM TO ME’
A MAN accused of murdering his mother-in-law told police he did not blame her after his wife fled their arranged marriage, a court heard.
Muhammad Tafham, 31, is accused of stabbing Rahman Begum, 46, to death at her home in Rochdale, before putting the knife in her hand in a bid to make it look like a suicide.
A jury at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court has heard the defendant came to Britain from Pakistan in 2016 on a three-year spouse visa on condition he lived with Mrs Begum’s daughter, Aysha Gulraiz.
But in February Ms Gulraiz, 25, left the family home to live with her longterm boyfriend in Bradford after a series of arguments with the defendant over his refusal to grant her a divorce, it was heard.
The Crown say Mrs Begum, known as Ruksana, then helped trick Mr Tafham into leaving the house in Clement Royds Street while her daughter returned to collect her belongings.
A day later on February 7, the mother-of-five was discovered lying on her kitchen floor in a pool of blood.
A post-mortem examination found she had suffered three major stab wounds to the front of her body, with one passing through her breast bone and into her heart.
Mr Tafham, who worked at the Pakeeza Dairies in Rochdale, was arrested later the same evening.
He said he had visited the house earlier in the day to pick up £300 that Mrs Begum had previously given to him towards a holiday flight to Pakistan.
During police interviews, transcripts of which were read out in court, he denied arguing with Mrs Begum and said he stayed for ‘about 10 to 15 minutes’ before he left.
The interviewing detective asked: “When you left that house had you already killed Ruksana?” “No,” Mr Tafham replied. The officer went on: “Did you blame Ruksana for your wife leaving you?” Mr Tafham said: “No.” Mrs Begum, the defendant said, ‘was like a mother to me.’ “I didn’t know anyone else”, he added.
He said he would have killed his wife for leaving him if he had any problems, but he said he didn’t have any.
Mr Tafham told police his mother-inlaw had complained about her daughters ‘giving her trouble’ and she had said: “I’m so fed up that I will just finish my life.”
Earlier the court had heard how CCTV footage showed Mr Tafham entering Mrs Begum’s house at 9.31am on the morning of her death. He stayed inside for 42 minutes. Two minutes before he left, the home’s CCTV system was disabled.
Mr Tafham denied he turned off the cameras.
Blood stains were later found on both sleeves and in the inside pocket of a brown grey hoodie found hanging behind his bedroom door and on a pair of grey trainers behind his bed.
A blood splattered latex glove was also discovered inside the hoodie.
DNA tests found the blood belonged to Mrs Begum.
When interviewed the defendant offered no explanation for the blood stains. Mr Tafham denies murder. Proceeding.