Birmingham woman accused of setting fire to husband had assaulted him before, court told

A Birmingham woman accused of killing her husband by setting him alight after he began a relationship with another woman had previously assaulted him and cut up his clothes, a court has heard.

However despite the problems he had at home, Liaqat Zaman still wanted “both marriages” to work, Birmingham Crown Court was told.

Mother-of-three Shahnaz Begum (36), of Church Hill Road, Handsworth, has denied murdering Mr Zaman on February 9 last year.

Peter Grieves-Smith, prosecuting, said Begum and Mr Zaman got married in 1994 but the victim then started a relationship with Maryam Bham and he married her according to Islamic law in 2006.

He said Begum was jealous of the other woman, who her husband would spend weekends with, and that she was concerned about the amount of money he was spending on her.

Mr Grieves-Smith said that on February 6 the victim had sat down to watch TV at his home in Birmingham when his wife poured petrol over his groin area before setting it alight.

Mr Zaman suffered 70 per cent burns and died three days later.

Giving evidence, Miss Bham was asked whether Mr Zaman told her how he was getting on with his wife.

She said: “She would not let him sleep. There was no communication. It was just work, home and having something to eat.

“It was just like a tape recorder, nagging, nagging and abuse. She was horrible to him.”

She said Mr Zaman also told her that on one occasion his wife had deliberately cut his eyebrow.

Mr Bham said she also saw bite marks on Mr Zaman and went on: “At first I thought they were just normal love bites but then I saw the teeth.”

She said Mr Zaman told her that his wife had bitten him while he was asleep “just to hurt me”.

Miss Bham also said Mr Zaman had been “kicked out” of the family home on three or four occasions and came to stay with her.

“She did not want to continue the marriage. She wanted him to leave her but he did not want to leave Shahnaz, because he cared for her,” she said.

Under cross-examination, Miss Bham said she was aware that Mr Zaman had lied to her when he claimed he had separated from his wife and that he had also seen other women during the course of his marriage.

The case continues.