More than one female is killed everyone week in Australia by someone she knows.
Arnima was just 19 years old… pregnant… and trapped in a controlling, isolating relationship.
What looked like love from the outside…
was something far more dangerous behind closed doors.
Because Zafar didn’t just turn love into fear.
he carried out a calculated, chilling crime that would shock all of Australia.
Hi, I’m Nat… and this is The Midnight Files.
True Crime Tuesday… where we give a voice to those who can no longer speak, shine a light on the truth, and hold those responsible accountable.
Please take into consideration this story does talk about domestic violence resulting in a homicide. If you find this distressing please skip this episode. If this story resonates with you, or if you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, I’ve included some support resources in the show notes for Australia below.
To understand this case, we need to begin with Arnima Hayat.
In 2022 Arnima was a 19-years old living in Sydney, Australia surrounded by her family.
She had attended Tempe High School, where she excelled academically, achieving an ATAR above 95 2021 when she graduated high school. It was an incredible result that allowed her to pursue her dream of studying medicine at university.
Arnima was in her second year at Western Sydney university studying to become a doctor, she was really enjoying her self and how her future looked as she loved helping others. Those that knew her describe her as intelligent, driven and compassionate and deeply loved by her friends and family.
She was just a teenager trying to find her way In the life. Like most girls her age she loved shopping, clothes, movies, music, driving around with her friends and taking photos. She loved making the most out of everyday moments.
Arnima was born into a Bangladeshi-Australian family. Her father immigrated to Australia first in 2006, followed by her mother and Arnima when she was just nine years old. Her younger sister was later born here in Australia.
Her dad said Arnima assimilated well in Australian culture, became fluent in English very quickly and enjoyed western food.
Her parents worked incredibly hard to give their children a stable, loving life filled with opportunity. Her father, Abu Hayat, was especially protective of her, wanting the best education and opportunities for his daughter. Arnima had a close relationship with her family and would take her parents for food at least once a week.
Her parents said she “wanted to help people,” and everything about her life reflected that. But like many young people, Arnima was also searching for love… for connection… for someone to share her life with.
And that’s when she met Meraj Zafar 2021 in her final year of high school.
NARRATOR:
A 20 year old Meraj Zafar, living in North Parramatta and was an apprentice builder. Zafar was born in Sydney in 2001, in Lakemba, to a Pakistani-Australian family. His father had emigrated from Sialkot in Pakistan, and the family later settled in Greenacre. He attended Malek Fahd Islamic School until 2011, in Greenacre Western Sydney. Then moved to Belmore Boys High School in 2012 where he repeated Year 11 and never finished the HSC, btw for people not from Australia that’s your high school certificate, which certificate which says you completed high school.
Zafar in school according to his pears didn’t listen or seem interested in study and was said to make jokes in class and about the teachers often. One of his old classmates saw a recent photos of him in 2022 and remarked that meraj looked muscular composed and the pumped up gym body he now had looked unrecognizable from the person he had attended school with.
But beyond these basic details, a different picture begins to emerge.
Zafar had a very different reputation. Unlike Arnima, who was known for her kindness and ambition, Zafar was secretive, controlling, and manipulative. Those who knew him said he had a short temper and a tendency to dominate the people around him.
But that’s not how he presented himself to her. At first, he was charming, attentive, and affectionate. He made grand promises, told her what she wanted to hear, and convinced her that he was the man she should be with and that she could trust him.
Arnima had never been in a relationship before. And without anything to compare it to, what felt intense… may have felt like love. But what she was experiencing wasn’t love—it was control.
Like many coercive relationships, it began with what’s often described as love bombing.
At his stage she didn’t have any reason to second guess his intentions, she took the overwhelming attention, affection, and reassurance he was giving her at face value and was sucked into a relationship with him.
But that façade would slowly start to slip and his true nature would come out. He began to isolate her from her friends and family, he pulled her away from a life she once had. On May 31st 2021, she called a friend at 2:20am distressed and ask if she could stay the night at her house. Arnima later appeared at a friend's house crying bruises around her throat, finger marks and thumb marks on the left side of her neck as well as bruising on her chest, arm, wrist, and thigh. She told her friend that they had gotten into an argument and he had hit and grabbed her. Zafar went to the home of another friend and told them he put his hands around my neck and strangled her until she became unconscious. Her friends saw the marks on her neck. Its thought that he became so enraged and attacked her because he thought he had seen arnima with another man, this was not true.
Arnima had taken out an Apprehended Violence Order against Zafar at the Campsie police station, an early sign that something was seriously wrong in their relationship. Unfortunately arnima would go back to zafar after this and It seems as though she withdrew the AVO.
So why did she go back? It’s a question people often ask… but in relationships like this, it’s rarely that simple. There’s often a cycle—moments of fear, followed by apologies, promises, and change. By the time you realise something isn’t right, leaving can feel almost impossible.
Arnima’s father had already begun to see the warning signs—and he tried to step in.
On the 8th of October 2021, Zafar approached Arnima’s mother and sister outside their home. He was unknown to them. When her father, Abu Hayat, arrived, Zafar told him he wanted to marry Arnima.
What followed was a confrontation in the street.
A family friend intervened, taking Arnima and Zafar inside to talk. But her parents were clear—they wanted to meet his family properly before any marriage was discussed.
Zafar refused.
Later that evening, he called Abu Hayat. The call quickly turned aggressive.
During that conversation, he threatened him—saying:
“I will kill you.”
Her father went straight to police.
The following day, a provisional Apprehended Violence Order was issued against Zafar for the protection of Abu Hayat.
And then, something shifted.
That same day, Arnima called her father and told him she wanted to marry Zafar.
Over the next few days, she returned home to collect her belongings.
After that… her parents would not see or speak to her again for the rest of her life.
Their relationship escalated quickly and just after 6 months on October 13th 2021, they had entered into a private Islamic marriage without the knowledge or support of their families. a decision that would later become a source of immense regret for Arnima. Only a few weeks after being married Arnima fell pregnant.

Arnima who was once so close with her parents now no longer saw or spoke to them and the newly married couple moved into an apartment in Noth Parramatta on October 14th. It didn’t take long for the manipulation and control to begin again. Zafar became increasingly possessive. He had isolated Arnima from her family and now discouraged her from seeing friends. He was slowly tightened his grip on her life. She became increasing withdrawn and her family were very worried about her. They said she wasn’t the happy, lively sociable teenager she had once been. Neighbours in the building heard muffled sounds of arguing coming from Zafar's and Arnimas apartment, at least once a fortnight since they moved in.
The abuse was only escalating and In late November 2021 arnima sent a photo to a friend of her self that showed her left cheek was red and swollen. She had told her friends that he would slap, punch, and kick her. Even treating her like a ‘slave. She wanted out of the marriage but new it would take time and was worried he would try and kill her if he found out that she wanted a divorce. Throughout 2021 Zafar would often abuse her but she never reported this violence to the police once she was married.
Police later analysed Zafar’s mobile phone, uncovering a series of messages exchanged between the two from mid-December 2021 through to the day before Arnima’s death.
What those messages revealed… was deeply disturbing.
Arnima’s texts spoke of escalating violence—being bashed, choked… and living in fear.
She referenced her pregnancy, said she wanted to end the relationship, and even told him she was going to go to police.
She asked for a divorce.
In one message, she wrote:
“I just don’t want to say this to your face… because I’m scared you’re going to bash me again.”
In another, she told him:
“I don’t want a son like you… I can’t have your child.”
His responses showed a very different tone.
Dismissive. Controlling. Minimising what had happened.
“Baby, you need to let go of the past. Whatever I did was not me at all.”
But the messages didn’t just reveal manipulation—they exposed control over every part of her life.
He told her to answer his calls or she wouldn’t be allowed to go out.
Said he wouldn’t let her work.
And repeatedly told her she did not have permission to leave the house.
At one point, he called her a “dumb bitch.”
In another exchange, Arnima warned him that when people found out about the abuse, he would go to jail.
His response was shocking
He told her they would have many sons… just like him.
On the 8th of December 2021, Arnima reached out to one of Zafar’s friends.
This female friend of zafar had pictures of him on her Instagram, she asked her to have these phots of him removed as it upset her to see them.
But more importantly, she confided that she wanted to leave him… and get a divorce.
She said he would yell at her… and had become aggressive.
In early January 2022 arnima was really upset and called her maternal uncle who lives in New York
She had confided in a friend that Zafar had been violent towards her.
And then two weeks later on January 29 2022 Arnima confided in friends, telling them she was afraid and that she regretted marrying him. She sent in a tezt “I have nobody except you” the friend replied: “You have got no choice. You have to stay with him.”
Like How could you say that to anyone let alone your friend and someone reaching out for help. Who is being abused and isolated away from everyone and fearing for her own life. she sent one final text at 9:10pm to that same friend saying : “I hate him.”
The next day, she was dead.
At 5 pm on the 29th Zafar got home from work and had made plans to go out with a friend that evening. He told that friend that he had an argument with arnima and zafar later lft his apartment at 752pm. Arnima called a friend at 812pm and told thme she regretted marrying him. At 08:15pm Zafar came back to the apartment. Its at 8:30 pm when arnima sent those messages to a friend saying she has not one but you and then the final message at 915pm was sent saying she hated him. This was the last contact she had with anyone. Her friend would continue to message arnima for days waiting for a reply to come through but it never did.
Zafar left the apartment block again at 9:55pm, so its suspected that he killed arnima between 0910 when she sent her last text message and 955pm when he left the apartment. Zafar messaged a friend at 9:56pm and said he’d come pick him up and they can go for a drive. On the 35minute drive to the friends house zafar said that his wife scratched him and they both agreed that the relationship was toxic. When he arrived, the friend noticed the scratch marks and they both drove around until 12:20am until he dropped the friend back at his house. He returned to the apartment… but didn’t stay long.
About 20 minutes later, he left again—this time carrying what appeared to be clothes or bedding.
He didn’t return until around 6am… still carrying those same items.
Like seriously after everything that just happened, he thought well better go hang out with a friend and vent about how bad my relationship is and how toxic it is. Um you just killed your partner, there no longer is a relationship you absolute loser. Youre a grown man and saying to your friend shes sctrached me and then agreeing its toxic but your just killed your pregnant wife and you want the sympathy.
He’s the one that isolated her, controlled her and abused her it’s not this “mutual conflict” hes trying to make out to his friends. She thought no one cares, thought she didn’t have a support system and cant get out and when she tries to leave he kills her.
At 11:30 am Zafar sent a text to his mum asking if they can meet as he need to tell her something. He arrived at his parents house at 11:45am and took his mother to a local park to talk. His mum saw that zafar had scratches and bruises on his neck and arms. Zafar started to cry and told his mother they had a fight and arnima had lost consciousness during the fight. I think he made out like she was still alive just unresponsive at their apartment. He said he didn’t want his mum to do anything he was just telling her and then dropped her back home after the chat.
Later that day around he called his mother at 430pm and told her that arnima wasn’t breathing. Zafar mother was shocked and very concerned asking him to call an ambulance. He replied to his mum "I'm not gonna call the ambulance, I'm scared. The police will get me and they will put me in gaol." His mum said no you have to call an ambulance and again he said I don’t want to go ot gaol… well hes not so tough enymore is he like what do you think happens when you kill someone. He asked his mum how much a ticket would be to go overseas.. so he was going to tyr and run.

I don’t know what he was expecting from his mother. To side with him and agree he did the right thing? Did he really think she wouldn’t tell anyone. It would be so hard to find out your child has attacked someone so violently and to leave them there without calling for help. I think we can all thank Zafars mum for going with her intuition of somethings not right and calling the police.
Fearing the worst, she did what he wouldn’t—she called the police at 4:32pm. Telling them something was very wrong.
On January 30, 2022, at 436pm police were called to an apartment in North Parramatta where they had to force there way into the apartment. Zafar just left the apartment a few minutes before police arrived.
What happened next is both disturbing and calculated. Inside the apartment, officers observed a strong chemical smell and followed the smell to the bathroom where they found Arnima lying face down naked in a bathtub not moving or breathing. Police found five empty 20Litre bottles of Hydrochloric acid in the bathroom. She was covered in 100litres of acid and there was a brown liquid cover the lower half of her body.
This didn’t dissolve her body like he had intended it to, but it did disfigured her so greatly she had to be identified using DNA.
[Pause for dramatic effect]
The agreed upon facts concluded in the supreme court was Zafar had attacked Arnima by obstructing her breathing through applying compression to her neck and or something her. When he made out to his mum during the day she was unresponsive at their apartment and he was crying and upset but he had a plan alla long to try and dissove her body in acid. Security footage later showed him calmly walking into Bunnings at Westmead 1024am that he drove to in his work truck where he bought a 20 litres of hydrochloric acid, he came back to the flat at 1053am filled the bathtub with the acid and placed arnimas body in the bath tub in an attempt to dispose of her.
Then he met up with his mother cried about the “argument” but then he after going back to the flat to check on arnima in the bathtub he went to Bunnings in Westmead looking calm and unfazed where he bought 4 more tubs of hydrochloric acid and added them to the bath around 345pm to try and decompose of her body and his unborn baby and impede the evidence and her cause of death. He calls his mum again to cry just making out now that she’s not breathing though she’s been dead for hours and you’ve made out like shes just unresponsive but you’ve made two separate trips to buy acid to pour on her.
The following day, Zafar’s behaviour became even more telling.
At around 5:00pm on Sunday, January 30, he met with a friend.
The friend noticed he appeared intoxicated—there was a bottle of alcohol in his truck. He also saw three scratches on Zafar’s neck.
During that conversation, Zafar spoke about his marriage—saying he had married Arnima the year before, despite her parents not approving… and that he had married her “to have kids.”
And then, he said something chilling.
He told his friend… that he had killed someone.
Later that evening, at around 8:30pm, Zafar made a series of internet searches.
Including:“How many years do you get in Sydney for murder.”
Alongside earlier searches like:“Can hydrochloric acid burn through skin,”“Bunnings near me,”and searches related to police and news coverage.It painted a very clear picture.
At 9:45pm, he met another friend.
The two spent the night driving around and stopping at different places to eat, before Zafar dropped him home sometime between 3:00 and 3:30 in the morning.
By the next day, police were closing in.
On Monday, January 31, police contacted the owner of the truck Zafar had used.
That owner then reached out to him—telling him police were looking for him and that he needed to hand himself in.
At around 11:00am, Zafar contacted Parramatta Police Station, saying he knew he was wanted.
Just over an hour later, at 12:20pm… he walked in and surrendered.
He was arrested.
As he was taken into custody, he reportedly said:
“I don’t want to do 20 years… I made a mistake.” After a city-wide manhunt lasting over 20 hours, there was nowhere left for him to go.
The truck he had used was later seized from an underground car park at Bunnings in Greenacre.
He initially denied responsibility—but as the evidence mounted, he eventually pleaded guilty.
During sentencing in the NSW Supreme Court in December 2024, Justice Deborah Sweeney stated that he had acted with:
“reckless indifference to life” by either choking or smothering Arnima.
During the trial, Arnima’s father gave a heart-wrenching statement, saying:
“He burned the face I used to talk to and kiss every night.” “Can you imagine someone burning your child? I can never see her again,”
Arnima’s mother, still grieving, said:
“She had so many dreams, so much ahead of her. He took everything from her.”
“He acted in such a way because of his anger at the prospect of Ms Hayat leaving him and the end of the marriage and I the context of Ms Hayat being pregnant at the time,” the judge said. “This was against a background of controlling and violent behaviour by the offender. The offence occurred in the home of Ms Hayat, where she was entitled to feel safe.”
The court considered Zafar’s age—just 20 at the time of the offence—as well as his limited criminal history and difficult personal circumstances, including a lack of family support after his marriage. His legal team argued that his mental health, including depression and past substance use, reduced his responsibility. However, expert psychiatric evidence found that while he had experienced some depression and anxiety, he was not suffering from a major psychiatric disorder or psychosis at the time of the offence. The judge ultimately ruled that these factors did not reduce his moral culpability. While Zafar expressed remorse and later pleaded guilty, the court noted his apology was partly focused on the consequences for himself. Taking into account his guilty plea, some prospects for rehabilitation, and the seriousness of the crime, the court emphasised the need for accountability and to uphold the dignity of Arnima Hayat
Sweeney said she had considered these factors, along with Zafar’s “conduct in relation to her body after her death” and that he “did not undertake any significant planning or organisation in killing Ms Hayat”. Sweeney said “must vindicate the dignity of the victim Ms Hayat and express the community’s disapproval of the crime against her”.
“I take into account that he was employed before he committed this offence, and he is accepting of his need for rehabilitation,” she said. “Given his youth, his limited prior record and that attitude it seems he has positive prospects of rehabilitation.” She did not believe that his hallucinations were genuine while being held in custody but in a letter to the court he took full responsibility.
In the judge assessed the offence as “in the mid-range of seriousness” for murder he was sentenced to 21 and a half years in prison, with a non-parole period of 16 years. This means he will be eligible for parole in 2038.
Her parents were inconsolable when the sentence was given, there sobs and wails could be heard throughout the court room.
Arnima’s story is a devastating example of domestic violence.
When I was looking at pictures of Arnima with her family vs pictures with Meraj its like two different people. In the picture with her family she looks effervescent, content and looks happy and comfortable with her family. Hugging, posing and smiling with them. In the pictures with Meraj she looks like a shadow of herself, controlled, demurred, the life drained from her. She’s barely smiling and if she is its looks controlled or forced. Like she cant be her self. Her family tried to help her, its just ashamed her friends couldn’t do the same and she was married to a monster.
Arnima’s life was full of potential, she had already overcome such adversity in assimilating into a new country and learning a new language and was successful, happy and winning at life prior to her relationship with Meraj. She could have been a brilliant doctor, a loving daughter, a leader in her field. But because of one man’s rage and control, her story ended far too soon.
Let’s make sure her death was not in vain.
In Australia, domestic and family violence has historically resulted in the death of approximately one woman per week.
However, recent data indicates an alarming increase in these incidents. In 2023, 58 women were victims of domestic homicide, up from 35 women in 2022 and 33 women in 2021.
Shockingly in 2024, 74 women were killed by domestic violence, averaging more than one death per week, its around 1 every 4 days. In 2025 as per counting dead women Australia around 54 women were killed.
This trend underscores a growing crisis in Australia, emphasizing the urgent need for effective measures to combat domestic violence.
I strive to give each case the justice it deserves, ensuring accuracy to the best of my ability. Every episode is thoroughly researched and written by me, using publicly available information. While I do my best to present the facts correctly, I sincerely apologize for any unintended inaccuracies. My goal is to shine a light on these stories with respect and care because those who have been wronged should never be forgotten, and those responsible should be held accountable.
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