A tradie who murdered his pregnant wife before dissolving her body in acid later laughed about the grisly killing with a friend.
Meraj Zafar, 22, this week entered a last-minute guilty plea to murdering his wife Arnima Hayat, 19, on January 29, 2022, in the North Parramatta unit they shared.
The aspiring doctor had wanted to leave her abusive husband, whom she had married in a secret Islamic ceremony only four months earlier.
Ms Hayat, a medical student at Western Sydney University, had sent a desperate message to a university friend on the night of her death.
‘I have nobody except you,’ Ms Hayat wrote to her friend.
He replied: ‘You have got no choice. You have to stay with him.’
Meraj Zafar, 22, entered a last-minute guilty plea to murdering his wife Arnima Hayat, 19, on January 29, 2022, in the North Parramatta unit they shared (the couple are pictured together)
The aspiring doctor had wanted to leave her abusive husband, whom she had married in a secret Islamic ceremony only four months before
In a final message at 9.10pm, Ms Hayat wrote: ‘No, I hate him.’
Within 45 minutes, she had been murdered by her husband.
The facts of the case, tendered to the NSW Supreme Court this week, reveal Zafar killed his young wife ‘by applying compression to her neck and/or smothering her’, reports the Daily Telegraph.
The day after the killing, Zafar drove to Bunnings in Northmead twice, buying a total of 100 litres of hydrochloric acid.
He searched on the internet: ‘Can hydrochloric acid burn through skin?’ and ‘how many years do you get in Sydney for murder’.
Zafar then poured the acid over Ms Hayat’s body in a bathtub ‘in attempt to dispose of her remains’, the facts state.
The apprentice builder then rang his mum and told her his wife was not breathing.
She advised him to ring an ambulance but he refused, saying: ‘The police will get me and they will put me in jail.’
He then asked how much an overseas plane ticket would cost but his mum called an ambulance.
This led to the police forcing entry into the apartment, where they discovered Ms Hayat’s partially dissolved body in the bathtub – but Zafar had fled the scene.
‘Ms Hayat was lying face down with her face hidden and contorted in half,’ the facts state.
‘There was a strong chemical odour in the air which was overwhelming, and police evacuated the apartment due to the hazardous quality of air emitting from the enclosed confined bathroom.’
Police were forced to wear hazmat suits before entering the bathroom (above) of the flat where Ms Hayat’s remains were allegedly immersed in a bath of acid
Pictured: the apartment block where Ms Hayat was murdered by her husband
While on the run, Zafar told a friend, ‘I just killed someone, I swear to God that I killed someone,’ and laughed, according to the facts.
He handed himself into police on January 31.
Ms Hayat’s parents previously told this publication only one foot of their daughter was left undestroyed by the acid, leaving them unable to identify her.
It was not the first time Zafar had attacked his wife.
In May 2021, he strangled her unconscious after thinking she had been seen with another man.
Zafar will return to court on August 5 for sentencing.
The day after the killing, Zafar drove to Bunnings in Northmead twice, buying a total of 100 litres of hydrochloric acid
Mr Zafar is seen in an image released by NSW Police
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