Bielefeld, Germany - The trial started Tuesday of a Turkish man accused of brutally murdering his wife on New Year's Day near the north German town of Guetersloh. The 26-year-old allegedly stabbed his 18-year-old wife repeatedly and beat her with a billiard cue, before driving over her several times. The prosecution says the husband was driven by extreme jealousy.
The couple were married under Turkish law, but lived apart. The man was resident in Turkey, while his German-born wife had Turkish nationality.
The man surrendered himself to the police in the early hours of January 1.
The prosecution alleged that the events were sparked when the couple were sitting in a car and the man tried to read data on his wife's mobile phone.
When she refused to give him the PIN code to access the phone, he allegedly pulled out a fruit knife and stabbed at his wife, who was sitting next to him in the driver's seat.
His knife blows slashed her face and upper body, but she managed to escape from the car. The man ran after her and she fell to ground, the prosecution said.
The defendant is accused of having stabbed his wife repeatedly, until the knife broke. Then he began to hit her on the head with a billiard cue until that also snapped, according to the prosecution.
"The wife is thought to have still been alive after that, and tried to escape down a country path," a prosecution spokesman said.
At this stage, the husband allegedly got back into the car and drove over his dying wife at least three times. When he was convinced she had died, he surrendered himself to the police.
According to previous police reports, the 18-year-old had already filed charges against her husband, after he sent threatening SMS text messages from Turkey to her mobile phone.
In October the 26-year-old, for whom a warrant had been issued, illegally entered Germany.
