A German woman accused of killing a beauty blogger lookalike to fake her own death has been put on trial.
Shahraban K. and friend Sheqir K., both 24, are accused of attacking blogger Khadidja O. because of her striking resemblance to Shahraban, who has the same dark hair and skin color.
Shahraban K. is said to have tracked down her lookalike on social media and, together with her boyfriend, stabbed her fifty times in an attempt to simulate her own death.
Prosecutors said the couple targeted many of the cuts and stab wounds at Khadidja O’s face, apparently to make it easier to fool an investigation.
A court in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, previously heard how they thought they could pass off their victim’s body as Shahraban K. so she could escape her strict Iraqi family.
ALLEGED KILLER: Shahraban K (photo). and friend Sheqir K., both 24, are accused of specifically selecting blogger Khadidja O. because of her striking resemblance to Shahraban
VICTIM: Algerian beauty blogger Khadidja O (photo) was stabbed fifty times in the German city of Ingolstadt, her face completely disfigured by the number of stab wounds
Prosecutors say the killer couple contacted random girls on social media who looked enough like Shahraban K. to convince a coroner.
“We established that the female suspect had decided to go into hiding due to internal family disputes,” prosecutor Veronika Grieser told local media last year, adding: “She wanted to fake her own death and start a new life.” to start.’
On August 9, 2022, the alleged killers sent their victim a message via social media offering her the chance to star in a video for German rapper Lune.
The pair – who named their fake account “lunee.officiel” – told her: “You don’t have to do much. It would be great to hear from you. Would take place in Offenburg.’
And they added: ‘It has to be kept a secret until the song comes out.’
But Khadidja became suspicious and sent a message to the star’s official account. Lune replied saying, “It’s fake, sis. Don’t answer!’
Just two days later, the defendants used a different Instagram account to make contact.
Prosecutor Grieser said: ‘This time they offered a beauty treatment that would be free if their victim advertised it on social media.’
They agreed to meet in Eppingen, the victim’s hometown according to Grieser, where the killers picked up Khadidja in a Mercedes.
“They drove towards Ingolstadt, but asked the 23-year-old to get out of the car in a forest,” she said. “She was hit in the head at least once and then stabbed 56 times.”
Shahraban K reportedly made a point of disfiguring Khadidja’s face with the knife in an attempt to make it difficult for investigators and her family to identify the victim.
Police spokesperson Andreas Aichele explained: ‘Her face was seriously injured by the more than fifty stab wounds.’
The killers put their victim’s body back in the car and abandoned the vehicle just a few blocks from where Shahraban K. lived in Ingolstadt.
Her shocked parents discovered the victim’s body in the Mercedes later that day and assumed it was their daughter.
Shahraban K had told her parents that she was going to Ingolstadt to meet her ex-husband, but when she did not return to their home in Munich, they went searching and found what they thought was their daughter’s body in the back of her Mercedes. .
German police officers had initially identified the body, which was located in the parked Mercedes, as Shahraban K – as the alleged killers had planned.
But after an autopsy, suspicions arose about the identity of the body, and the victim Khadidja has since been identified.
Sheqir K, 24, has been charged with murder
Prosecutors said the couple targeted many of the cuts and stab wounds on Khadidja O’s face (pictured), apparently to make it easier to fool any investigation into her death
Shahraban and Sheqir were tracked down and arrested after forensic investigations and a check of the victim’s tattoos revealed her true identity.
Prosecutors – who plan to question 190 witnesses in court – have charged the duo with murder after extensive DNA checks and the examination of social media and mobile phone data.
The pair are being held and their full trial is expected to begin soon.
Neither has ever made a statement or commented on the allegations.
Proceedings on the first day of the trial on Tuesday were postponed after defense lawyers said a fair trial would not be possible because prosecutors had submitted additional documents that needed to be examined.
Although prosecutors argued that it was not unusual for additional documents to be filed after an indictment, the court has yet to decide whether to stay proceedings
The court will make a ruling on this next week.
The pair face life behind bars if convicted of murder.