Xena Wilhelm
born: 1973
stabbed to death: June 10, 2019
Residence: Wolfsburg
Origin: Ukraine
Children: 2
Perpetrator: her divorced husband (47 years)

Xena comes with her husband and 2 children from Ukraine to Germany. She gets divorced in 2019, cancels the rent of the communal flat in Wolfsburg and wants to move to Bochum. On Whit Monday 2019 her husband stabs her 22 times. Neighbors find her badly wounded in the stairwell.

The act happens before the eyes of the daughter who is also injured. She is taken to the hospital together with her mother, later in the youth care center, then she goes to her aunt and uncle. The police arrest the perpetrator in the apartment. The mother dies 2 days later in the hospital due to organ failure.

In November 2019 the trial will start at the regional court of Braunschweig. In December, the perpetrator is sentenced to 11 years imprisonment. The judge calls the crime an "absolutely senseless orgy of violence".

Is this an honour killing? Some circumstances may indicate this: The perpetrator does not learn German and therefore cannot find work as a jeweler. His wife works, does things better, becomes more independent and wants a divorce. A not entirely unusual background for an honour killing, plus the divorce situation and the staging of the crime for the 10-year-old daughter, which can be seen as a threat.