Fauzia
born: 1980
stabbed to death: 3 February 2012
Residence: Werther (Gütersloh)
Origin: Turkey / Kurds / Yazidi
Children: 3 daughters (10, 13, 15 years)
Perpetrator: her husband Bedil A. (36 years)

Fauzia and Bedil are Yazidi from the Kurdish region of Turkey. Fauzia has her first daughter at the age of 16, which may indicate a forced marriage. The rules of Yazidi marriage are strict and sometimes brutally enforced. Over the years, both Fauzia and Bedil acquire German nationality. Two more daughters follow.

On 31 January 2012 Bedil beats up his wife. Fauzia calls the police, who put him out of the apartment for 10 days. On February 3, a policeman visits the apartment to check if he respects the ban. An hour later, Bedil passes by to kill his wife with 27 stabbings in front of their 15-year-old daughter. Then he calls the police.

The other two daughters were at school at the time of the crime. All three are under the care of youth welfare. Their father Bedil gives no information about the crime in his interrogation and in court.

The newspaper quotes a Yezidi woman from Bielefeld who says that Fauzia had already left her husband several times. But that her family had repeatedly urged her to go back.

From prison, the perpetrator insists on getting custody of his daughters. His reasons: In Yezidi culture, it's customary for the children to be given to the father's family - even if the father murdered the mother. His sister (who clearly supports the whole thing) could raise the daughters, and he could make the decisions from prison. However, the daughters declared in the family court that they did not want contact with the father. The father eventually accepted.

In August 2012, the murder trial will start at the Bielefeld District Court. In the court it will turn out that Fauzia and Bedil have been separated since 2009. In October Bedil is sentenced to life imprisonment for murder.