A woman has appeared in court after being accused of murdering a woman who looked like her in an alleged attempt to fake her own death.
A 24-year-old woman and 25-year-old man are facing allegations of murder and selecting a victim based on her age and appearance.
Prosecutors in Germany claim that the pair had planned to go into hiding and start a new life, but were instead arrested after investigators realised that the body they had found was not who they thought it was.
Both accused individuals have denied the charges against them.
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According to court documents prosecutors believe that a German-Iraqi woman referred to as Sharaban K, who was 23 at the time the murder was committed in August 2022, specifically sought out women who looked like her.
They allege that the woman found people who resembled her on Instagram and tried to arrange a meeting with them.
She allegedly tried to offer a woman the opportunity to be in a music video with the rapper Lune, but when the woman contacted the rapper directly she was told the invitation was fake.
Prosecutors claim that a 23-year-old Algerian woman named Khadidja O, who lived around 100 miles away from the accused, had been promised a free treatment at a beauty salon in exchange for promoting it to her followers.
They allege that a meeting on 16 August was arranged in the southern German town of Eppingen.
The accused pair, Sharaban K and a Kosovan man named as Sheqir K, are alleged to have picked up the murder victim in their car before striking her over the head and stabbing her 56 times, the victim's face was also disfigured in her murder.
The victim's body was then abandoned in a forest in a car, and when the vehicle was discovered the victim was at first wrongly identified as Sharaban K, with family members saying it was her.
Prosecutors have claimed that the victim's status as a doppelganger to the accused woman may have significant bearing on the case.
However, an autopsy the following day revealed that the murder victim was actually Khadidja O, and both of the accused were arrested after being spotted in a pizzeria.
In addition to allegations of murdering Khadidja O, the pair are also facing accusations of hiring a contract killer to murder Sharaban K's former partner's brother.
The alleged hitman received €5,000 (£4,280) as a deposit but did not carry out the killing.
The male suspect, Sheqir K, is also facing claims that while in custody he attempted to persuade a fellow inmate to kill witnesses.
According to the BBC, the trial's first day was Tuesday (16 January) and proceedings were delayed as the defence's legal representatives argued prosecutors had submitted new evidence they would need extra time to examine, meaning if a trial went ahead now it would not be fair.
Prosecutors rejected that argument, claiming it was not unusual for more documents to be submitted after people were indicted.
The court is expected to make a decision on whether or not to suspend proceedings next week.
Topics: World News, Crime
Joe Harker