Dramatic moment heartbroken mum breaks down in court as evil acid bath killer Meraj Zafar is jailed for the murder of pregnant teenage wife Arnima Hayat in North Parramatta, western Sydney
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A tradie who murdered his pregnant wife of four months then dumped her body in an acid bath has been jailed for a minimum 16 years. Meraj Zafar, 23, killed Arnima Hayat, 19 at their North Parramatta apartment in Sydney's west when she tried to end their turbulent marriage in January 2022.
![[Ms Hayat, a medical science student, had wanted to leave Zafar amid what a judge called his 'controlling and violent behaviour'. Justice Deborah Sweeney jailed Zafar for a maximum 21 years and six months during a sentencing hearing in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/19/01/92443677-14207749-Meraj_Zafar_murdered_Arnima_Hayat_at_their_North_Parramatta_apar-a-6_1734570097197.jpg)
Ms Hayat, a medical science student, had wanted to leave Zafar amid what a judge called his 'controlling and violent behaviour'. Justice Deborah Sweeney jailed Zafar for a maximum 21 years and six months during a sentencing hearing in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday.
![[Arnima Hayat's father Abu Hayat address the man who killed his daughter last month. 'You killed my daughter, you broke her future... you broke my family, you broke my heart' he told Meraj Zafar. Mr Hayat is pictured outside court on Thursday]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/19/01/93298877-14207749-image-a-24_1734571384396.jpg)
It was never established precisely how Ms Hayat was murdered but Zafar had taken her life 'by applying compression to her neck and/or smothering her' before placing her body in a bath of hydrochloric acid. Justice Sweeney said Ms Hayat's body was so badly decomposed the aspiring doctor could only be indentified through DNA samples.
![[Ms Hayat's parents Abu Hayat (left) and Mahafuza Akter (right) delivered heartbreaking victim impact statements ahead of their daughter's killer being sentenced]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/18/22/85544999-0-Ms_Hayat_s_parents_Abu_Hayat_left_and_Mahafuza_Akter_right_deliv-a-3_1734559892312.jpg)
Her mother Mahafuza Akter broke down in tears of the floor of the court during the sentencing, Nine newspapers reported. Ms Hayat's family migrated to Australia from Bangladesh when she was a child and established a successful butcher shop. A tradie who murdered his pregnant wife of four months then dumped her body in an acid bath has been jailed for 16 years. Meraj Zafar killed Arnima Hayat at their North Parramatta home in January 2022 when faced with the prospect of her ending their turbulent marriage.
![[Mourners carry Arnima Hayat's coffin to her grave in the Muslim section of Rookwood Cemetery on February 8, 2022]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/18/22/93294237-0-image-a-8_1734560287097.jpg)
