Story by Chris Riches.
A brutally-abusive husband who stabbed his wife 40 times to death after she asked for a divorce has been jailed for life. Evil spouse Syed Rafay Ahmad, 45, carried out a “brutal, deliberate and determined” revenge attack on defenceless wife Anam Rafay, 36, on 27th January this year.
A jury heard controlling Ahmad was persistently violent towards Anam, would take her wages and beat her during their 20-year arranged marriage when she was 16 and him 25. Manchester Crown Court heard that when police responded to a domestic incident at their home she was found unresponsive “with significant knife wounds outside the address” and later died at the scene.
Forensics proved it was a cold-blooded murder© MEN Media
Last week during a trial Ahmad pleaded guilty to murder and has now been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 27 years and two months.
Sentencing Ahmad, Judge Suzanne Goddard KC said: “It’s clear to me you could not accept the fact she was going to go through with the divorce, you were jealous she had another man.
“You decided that morning you could not tolerate the situation and you decided to kill her.
“This was a sustained and brutal killing, she undoubtedly suffered pain and anguish. This was a brutal, deliberate and determined attack, you wanted to kill her.
“You sought to exaggerate your mental health, and you told lies whilst giving evidence.”
In June last year, after falling in love with another man she met on social media, Mrs Rafay contacted a mufti, also known as a divorce mediator, in Longsight to ask about obtaining a divorce application.
The following October she served that application upon Ahmad who asked for mediation. She agreed to give him ‘one more chance to change’, but he never did.
The night before her death, Mrs Rafay told Ahmad she wanted a divorce. The following morning, he attacked her with a large kitchen knife, repeatedly stabbing her and causing her to fall to the floor.
When she managed to get up and run to her next-door neighbour’s house for help, Ahmad chased her and continued the frenzied attack.
One neighbour reportedly saw Ahmad grab hold of Mrs Rafay’s arm before stabbing her to the neck with his other hand.
Afterwards, he was seen to go back into their home on Lulworth Gardens, appearing to ‘smirk’ or ‘smile’. He then sent a message to the family WhatsApp group, as well as to Mrs Rafay’s father, stating: “I have killed my wife.”
In arrest footage shown to the court during a trial, Ahmad said: “Self-defence, self-defence, she attacked me.”
The victim was found dying outside the marital home© MEN MEDIA
A post-mortem revealed she suffered 40 stab wounds with injuries to both lungs, diaphragm, kidney, liver and spleen- and ‘defensive’ injuries to her upper arms.
Over the course of a two-week trial Ahmad denied murder, saying he did not intend to kill his wife and was suffering from ‘abnormal mental functioning’ at the time.
Giving evidence, he said that he “heard a voice which told him his wife was going to smash his head in”, before claiming he acted in self-defence.
But after giving evidence over three days, he finally pleaded guilty to murder last week.
Anam’s family said in a victim impact statement: “Anam was very innocent. He is a cruel man and he would be hanged in Pakistan, where there is the death penalty. He has tried to say he is innocent – he is not.”
Mark Ford KC, representing Ahmad, described the attack as an “ugly tragic event”: “It was largely spontaneous, borne out of fury.
“I asked the defendant if there was anything he wanted to say. He wishes to express his profound regret. One may well understand why that might be met with scepticism by the court.”
Outside court Detective Inspector Neil Higginson, from GMP’s Major Incident Team, said: “Anam’s tragic death was a result of Ahmad’s violent nature.
“This was a horrific, and cold-blooded attack, causing irreparable damage to a family, who were left to deal with the consequences of his actions.
“Domestic abuse and violence has devastating and permanent consequences.”
