The 32-year-old, who killed the 30-year-old mother of his six children in June, told the Berlin state court that “I thought I was doing something good.” The practising Muslim said that he had heard God’s voice, and at that point he believed he was Jesus.

He dragged his wife onto the balcony of their flat in the Kreuzberg area of the capital. There he hit her repeatedly on the head with their barbecue before stabbing her to death, the court heart. An autopsy showed that she died from a stab to the heart.

Because, he told the judge, he was unsure whether she was dead, he beheaded her, cut off several parts of her body, including one of her breasts, and threw them into the inner courtyard of the building and shouted “God is great” in Arabic.

The court heard how the suspect was supposed to have been taking medicine prescribed for psychosis. He had stopped taking them six months prior to the attack because he wanted to be able to work better and be able to smoke cannabis.

He had allegedly smoked several joints shortly before the attack and, he told the court, had argued with his wife some days earlier over an ex-partner and had not been living in the flat.

But after his eldest son begged him to come home, he moved in. When he realised his wife was still angry at him, he proceeded to chain-smoke cannabis. It was during this time, he said, that the idea came to him that he had to kill her.

“I regret it, it has destroyed my family,” he said. Since his arrest he has been under observation in the psychiatric ward of a Berlin hospital prison, where he has started taking medication again. “I feel a lot better,” he said.

The couple’s six children, aged at the time between one and 13, were sleeping while the attack happened. They are being looked after by two foster families and are said to be doing well considering the circumstances.

The case continues and an outcome is expected on November 23.

DAPD/AFP/The Local/jcw