Syed Ahmad, 45, is on trial at Manchester Crown Court charged with the murder of his wife Anam Rafay on January 27 2026. He denies the charge and has pleaded not guilty to an alternate offence of manslaughter.
Prosecutors allege that Ahmad stabbed his wife 40 times after she told him she wanted a divorce. The court heard that the couple had an arranged marriage in Pakistan in 2005 when Rafay was 16 and Ahmad was 25. Rafay lived in Pakistan with her family while Ahmad had moved to the UK as a child.
Prosecution Details Abuse and Control
Opening the case for the prosecution, Bill Baker KC said: "The defendant's family promised her family that she would be treated as an actual daughter, not daughter in law. They didn't do so. They made her do all the housework and she wasn't allowed to eat until they had finished eating."
Baker told jurors that Ahmad was "not a good husband" but rather "abusive, controlling and violent throughout almost their entire marriage." Ahmad denies being abusive and claims Rafay was violent towards him.
Events Leading to the Killing
The court heard that in June 2025, Rafay saw a TikTok post from an account called Haroon Khan Travel. She messaged Khan and they began talking over social media, becoming friendly and eventually meeting. They went on city trips, and Rafay fell in love with him and wanted to marry him.
In September 2025, Rafay contacted a mufti (divorce mediator) in Longsight about obtaining a divorce application. She served the application on Ahmad in October, who asked for mediation. She agreed to give him "one more chance to change," but he never did. The night before the attack, she told Ahmad she wanted a divorce.
The Attack
On the morning of January 27 2026, Rafay was in the kitchen filling a water bottle when Ahmad allegedly took a kitchen knife with a 15.5-inch blade from the living room and began stabbing her. She fell to the floor, and he continued stabbing her as she lay defenceless. She managed to get up and went next door seeking help, but Ahmad chased her and started stabbing her again.
Neighbours saw Ahmad stabbing her on the ground before walking back to the house, allegedly smiling or smirking at what he had done. He then watched from upstairs as emergency services arrived. He sent a message to the family WhatsApp group reading: "I have killed my wife."
A post-mortem examination revealed 40 stab wounds to her neck, body, arms, and legs.
Defence Case
Ahmad accepts he killed his wife by repeatedly stabbing her, but the main issues are whether he intended to kill her or cause really serious harm. The defence argues he did not intend to kill and was suffering from abnormal mental functioning at the time. Prosecutors accept Ahmad had mild depression but say it is for the defence to prove substantial impairment of his ability to understand his conduct, form rational judgement, or exercise self-control.
The trial is expected to last up to three weeks.
