A tradie who murdered his pregnant wife and then tried to dissolve her body in an acid bath had stalked and threatened her father when he refused to give him permission to marry his teenage daughter.
Meraj Zafar, 22, entered a last-minute guilty plea this week to the murder of 19-year-old Arnima Hayat on January 29, 2022, in the North Parramatta unit they shared.
Only one foot of the aspiring doctor remained after Zafar killed her and then tried to dissolve her body in a bath of hydrochloric acid.
The facts of the case, which was heard in the NSW Supreme Court this week, show Zafar killed his young wife “by applying compression to her neck and/or suffocating her”.
In January 2023, Zafar pleaded guilty to stalking Armina’s father Abu Hayat and threatening him over the phone during a conversation about marriage.
Armina’s devastated parents Abu (left) and Mahfuza Hayat (right) are pictured in their western Sydney home. The couple had a lifetime AVO against their daughter’s husband
Meraj Zafar, 22, entered a last-minute guilty plea this week to the murder of his wife Arnima Hayat, 19, on January 29, 2022, in the North Parramatta unit they shared
The court heard the apprentice builder had a fiery argument with Mr Hayat after turning up at his home on the evening of October 8, 2021.
Zafar told Mr Hayat that he planned to marry his then 18-year-old daughter to the older man, requesting that he meet the tradie’s parents first.
When an argument broke out, Arnima and her fiancé went to family friend Hayat and a neighbour’s flat, Bankstown Local Court was told in January 2023.
At around 8.45pm, Mr Hayat received calls from an unknown number.
He answered the fourth call and her daughter’s boyfriend was “angry and began abusing ‘Mr Hayat’ and threatening him with harm.”
The court heard Zafar said to his girlfriend’s father: ‘Are you a man or are you a lady? Why can’t you make a decision? I want a decision quickly.’
Two hours later, Mr Hayat went to Campsie police station, where police told him Zafar had admitted swearing and assaulting the older man over the phone.
Zafar was given an immediate prison sentence of five months for stalking.
He was also given a lifetime AVO not to contact Mr Hayat or his wife’s family, including her mother Mahfuza.
The couple married in a secret Islamic ceremony four months before her death.
Zafar told Mr Hayat he was getting married to his then 18-year-old daughter (pictured at her graduation) and became angry when he did not receive the older man’s blessing
The facts of the case, presented to the NSW Supreme Court this week, reveal Zafar (pictured) killed his young wife ‘by applying compression to her neck and/or suffocating her’
The traumatized family of Arnima Hayat, uncle Abu Saleh (left), father Abu Hayat and mother Mahafuzah (right), said their daughter enjoyed studying and had become a real ‘Aussie girl’
Ms Hayat’s parents previously told Daily Mail Australia their daughter was a studious but fun-loving “Aussie girl” who took her parents out for sushi and cakes every week until she stopped contact with them six months ago.
Mahafuzer said her daughter “loved movies and music, driving, shopping and buying nice clothes.”
With lots of friends from school, her job at Kmart in Marrickville and the University of Western Sydney, she had a happy life before dating Zafar.
Arnima’s parents said she went from being a normal, sociable teenager who regularly told her family how much she loved them to becoming withdrawn.
As of October 2021 – when Zafar and Arnima started living together in a unit in Parramatta – the family did not even receive phone calls from her.
Arnima Hayat lived in this ground-floor flat for three months before she died in January 2022
She had sent a desperate message to a friend on the night of her death.
“I have no one but you,” Ms. Hayat wrote to her friend.
He replied, “You have no choice. You have to stay with him.’
In a final message at 9.10pm, Ms Hayat wrote: ‘No, I hate him.’
Within 45 minutes she was murdered by her husband who drove to Bunnings in Northmead the next day to buy a total of 100 liters of hydrochloric acid.
Zafar then poured the acid over Ms Hayat’s body in a bathtub [an] attempt to dispose of her remains,” according to the facts of the case.
It was not the first time that Zafar attacked his wife. In May 2021, he choked her unconscious after believing she had been seen with another man.
Zafar returns to court for sentencing on August 5.