A failed asylum seeker has been jailed by a German court for eight-and-a-half years for stabbing his 15-year-old ex-girlfriend to death after she broke up with him.
The defendant, identified only as Abdul Mobin D due to German privacy laws, received a jail term by a juvenile court in the western town of Landau today.
The verdict came a week after violent anti-immigrant protests erupted in the eastern city of Chemnitz over the fatal stabbing of a German national, allegedly by a Syrian and an Iraqi.
Abdul Mobin D admitted in court to stabbing the girl, identified only as Mia V, at a drugstore in the town of Kandel on December 27 last year.
The chemist in Kandel, south west Germany, were Mia V was stabed to death just weeks after she broke up with her ‘mean and jealous’ boyfriend Abdul D
The attacker was overpowered by witnesses who restrained him until police officers arrived.
Prosecutors believe Abdul Mobin D, who claimed to be from Afghanistan, acted out of jealousy after the girl broke up with him.
Besides his nationality, doubts were raised about his age, which he said was 15 at the time of the crime.
An expert estimated his age the be between 17 and a half and 20 but, given the uncertainty, the proceedings were held behind closed doors and under juvenile penal rules.
Mia V was stalked and threatened by her ex-boyfriend in the weeks before she was stabbed to death
The case has been seized upon by the far-right in its campaign against migrants and comes as German police reveal that migrant murder suspects rose by a third last year.
Abdul Mobin D arrived in the German state of Hesse in April 2016 as an unaccompanied refugee, telling the authorities he was 15 years old.
His request for asylum was rejected in February 2017 but he was not immediately deported.
Abdul Mobin D and Mia V had reportedly had a relationship which lasted several months, but she broke up with him early December after he became ‘jealous and mean’.
The victim’s father David V said he and his family initially welcomed Abdul Mobin D ‘like a son’ as ‘otherwise he would have had nobody’, but adds that he always doubted his age.
‘He is never in a million years 15-years-old. We hope that through the procedure [age test] that we will now know his true age.’
Following the end of the relationship, Abdul Mobin D reportedly stalked and threatened Mia V which saw her parents file a complaint, accusing the Afghan national of insults, threats and coercion.
The murders of Mia V and Daniel Hillig have been seized upon by the far-right in its campaign against migrants
Police officers notified the asylum seeker of proceedings over the harassment in person on the morning of the fatal stabbing.
Despite the doubts over his age, German doctors have resisted calls for medical testing to determine young migrants age, saying it is unethical.
The case is one in a string of high-profile crimes allegedly committed by asylum seekers that have stoked popular anger against the new arrivals and put pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel over her liberal refugee policy, which has seen more than 1 million migrants enter the country since 2015.