Couple Who Wore Animal Masks to Attack Stepmother Jailed for Attempted Murder

A young Birmingham couple who plotted to kill their parents and burn down the family home have been jailed for a total of 24 years for a violent, premeditated knife and hammer attack on the man’s stepmother.

Wasif Hussain, 21, was sentenced to 15 years, and his wife Nabela Tabassum, 19, to 9 years, at Birmingham Crown Court on 20 June 2025, following their convictions for attempted murder earlier this year.

The pair attacked Arifa Nazmin in the kitchen of the family home in Kings Norton on the evening of January 29, 2024, wearing animal masks they had purchased earlier that day.

Hussain struck the victim repeatedly with a hammer, attempted to strangle her, and stabbed her in the arm, while Tabassum held down her legs. The attack was captured on CCTV and included Hussain shouting that Nazmin would “die for everything [she had] done.”

As Detective Inspector Laura Allen of the Public Protection Unit said, “This was a calculated and frenzied attack on a defenceless woman… She was very lucky to have survived.”

Prosecutor Rob Forrest described it as a “planned attempt to kill” against a backdrop of deteriorating family relations. Mrs Nazmin had told Tabassum’s parents the couple were not contributing to the household and were treating the home “like a hotel”.

The couple, who were unemployed, had met online and married in December 2023, weeks before the attack. Tabassum had moved into the house in early January.

During the sentencing hearing, the court was told that Hussain, who has significant autistic traits, had been affected by a difficult family history, including the suicide of his mother when he was seven — an event for which he blamed his father and his subsequent relationship with Mrs Nazmin. His defence barrister, Andreas O’Shea, said he was “remorseful and regretful”, and knew the attack was wrong.

Tabassum, who has learning difficulties and was found to have an IQ in the bottom 1% of the population, was described by her barrister Islam Khan as “sincerely remorseful”. He argued she had found herself unable to speak out against her husband’s plan, but accepted her full role in the assault.

Judge Paul Farrer KC told the pair:

“You attacked Mrs Nazmin in her own home. I have no doubt you were both well aware that what you embarked upon was seriously wrong. Following the attack she felt compelled to leave her home.”

He added that although the offence was “grave and deeply alarming”, it had been committed by “two young, immature individuals who are unlikely to commit serious incidents of violence again.”