A Nigerian man, simply identified as Anthony I, who sought asylum in Germany and lied that he was gay and had fought Boko Haram, is on trial in Muenster, Germany for stabbing and killing his girlfriend earlier this year.
Prosecutors said the 28-year-old Anthony brutally murdered Soopika Paramanathan, a 22-year-old German student known locally as the “Angel of Ahaus” for her volunteer work with refugees.
Anthony attacked Paramanathan on Feb. 11 after she ended their relationship, prosecutors said, he allegedly stabbed her repeatedly with a long-bladed knife in her head, neck and breasts. He was said to have stabbed the lady over 50 times.
She sprayed his face with pepper spray in defence and was raced to a local hospital but later died after suffering substantial blood loss.
Anthony had bought a large suitcase in which he intended to stuff her body and dump it into a lake after he stabbed her repeatedly in the street.
He was stuffing Paramanathan’s body into the large suitcase on the street when witnesses said they spotted him. He escaped from the crime scene and was caught by police in Basel, Switzerland two days later.
Nigerian Anthony I, 28, killed student Soopika Paramanathan, 22, out of jealousy, said prosecutors at a court in Muenster.
Soopika and the bag where Anthony kept her body
Paramanathan’s father, Sivasamboo, said his daughter “felt threatened by him” in the days leading up to the attack and was afraid, according to German tabloid Bild.
The couple met in 2016 at a local refugee home in Ahaus, Germany, where Anthony I. was living and Paramanathan volunteered.
Anthony came to Germany in 2015, after spending three years in Italy.
He wrote in his asylum application that he was forced to leave his country in 2012 for being homosexual and he had fought against the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram in Nigeria. The application was in the process of being rejected, because it dripped with lies.
He is facing life imprisonment when an expected guilty verdict is handed down on September 20.
German police have not released Anthony’s full last name. And Anthony in court had kept mute, according to a report by Bild, the German tabloid.
Soopika’s lawyer Hans-Peter Maas said; ‘She was a good person. On her birthday she sent gifts to homeless people in Sri Lanka. (Lailas)