By Sarah McPhee
Warning: Graphic content
Arnima Hayat had hoped to become a doctor and expressed regrets about marrying her husband before he killed her in their Sydney home and placed her body in a bath filled with hydrochloric acid.
The 19-year-old’s last contact with anyone other than her killer, Meraj Zafar, was via text message to a university friend on the night of January 29, 2022.
Arnima Hayat was murdered by her husband Meraj Zafar.Credit: Facebook
“I have nobody except you,” Hayat said to her friend.
He replied: “You have got no choice. You have to stay with him.”
In a final message at 9.10pm, Hayat wrote: “No, I hate him.”
Within 45 minutes of that message, Hayat was killed by Zafar.
The horrifying details of her death can be revealed after Zafar, 22, entered an eleventh-hour plea of guilty to murder on Tuesday, two weeks before he was due to face trial in the NSW Supreme Court.
According to the agreed facts, Hayat’s direct cause of death could not be ascertained, but she was choked or smothered by her husband who acted with “reckless indifference”.
“The motive the offender had at the time of the act was his anger at the prospect of Ms Hayat leaving him and the end of the marriage,” the 14-page document, signed by Zafar, states.
“This was in the context of Ms Hayat being pregnant at the time [of] her death.”
The North Parramatta apartment block where Arnima Hayat was killed.Credit: AAP/Bianca De Marchi
The couple met while Hayat was still in high school and later married in a private Islamic ceremony in October 2021 without the support of their families, before moving into a North Parramatta unit.
Hayat migrated to Australia from Bangladesh as a child and had been studying medical science at the University of Western Sydney.
In the months before her marriage, Hayat complained to friends about Zafar’s violence, but did not report it to police. She said they had argued because he thought he had seen her with another man, and that he put his hands around her neck, rendering her unconscious and leaving her bruised.
When Zafar approached Hayat’s family on October 8, 2021 to talk about marrying her, an argument ensued, and he abused her father Abu Hayat over the phone that night, stating: “I will kill you.”
The next day, an interim apprehended violence order was made for the protection of Abu Hayat from Zafar. The facts state Arnima Hayat called her father that same day and “advised she wanted to marry the offender” and “wished to collect her belongings”, which she did in the following days.
“After this time, Hayat’s parents did not have any further contact with her for the remainder of her life,” the court documents read. “Ms Hayat’s parents also had no contact with the offender.”
Hayat sent a photograph of a facial injury to her university friend in late November 2021 and “told him that she regretted marrying” Zafar who had “bashed” her.
In December 2021, she told a woman she was upset there were photographs of Zafar on another woman’s Instagram account, said he had lied to her about cheating, and she wanted a divorce.
On the night of January 29, 2022, Hayat again told her friend she regretted marrying Zafar.
The facts state Zafar arrived back at the home with groceries at 8.15pm and killed Hayat between her final text at 9.10pm and when he left home at 9.55pm.
He told a friend he had argued with his wife, that she had scratched him and their relationship was “toxic”, before he returned at 1am on January 30.
Zafar, who was a labourer, drove to Bunnings Northmead in his work truck at 10.24am and was captured on CCTV buying a 20-litre tub of hydrochloric acid.
“The offender decanted the hydrochloric acid into the bathtub in the unit and moved the body of Ms Hayat into the bathtub,” the facts state. “He did so in an attempt to dispose of Ms Hayat’s remains.”
He bought four more 20-litre tubs of acid from Bunnings that afternoon and poured them into the bathtub.
Police released this image as part of their appeal to speak to Meraj Zafar.Credit: NSW Police
Zafar’s internet searches included querying “can hydrochloric acid burn through skin” and “how many years do you get in Sydney for murder”.
He told his mother he had fought with his wife, and she was not breathing, but that he was “not going to call the ambulance”, was “scared” and that he did not want to go to jail.
“The offender also asked his mother how much a ticket to go overseas was,” the facts state.
Zafar’s mother called emergency services to the unit, where they found Hayat’s body, but not Zafar.
While on the run, he told a friend, “I married this girl last year, her parents didn’t like me, I married her to have kids”, and said, “I just killed someone, I swear to God that I killed someone” and laughed, according to the facts.
After a public appeal to find him, Zafar handed himself in on January 31, 2022. He told police: “I don’t want to do 20 years. I was like, you know what, I have done a mistake, I have to do it.”
Hayat’s parents faced the unimaginable task of providing DNA to help authorities identify their daughter. After her death, her father told SBS Bangla: “This is the biggest loss in my life.”
Zafar has been in custody since his arrest and is due to face a sentence hearing on August 5.
If you or anyone you know needs help, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 (and see lifeline.org.au), 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), the National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service on 1800 211 028 or Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.