‘Female killer lured beauty blogger lookalike to her death by offering her a free treatment… then stabbed her 50 times so she could fake her own murder and escape her strict Iraqi family’

A woman in Germany accused of luring her beauty-blogger lookalike to her death did so by offering her a free treatment, it has been alleged.

Shahraban K. and boyfriend Sheqir K., both 24 – are accused of targeting blogger Khadidja O. because of her striking resemblance to Shahraban, with both sharing the same dark hair and complexion.

Shahraban K. is said to have tracked down her lookalike on social media and stabbed her 50 times in a bid fake her own death.

Prosecutors said the couple aimed many of the slashes and stab wounds at Khadidja O’s face, apparently to make it easier to fool any investigation.

A court in Ingolstadt, Bavaria State, heard how they believed they could pass off their victim’s body as Shahraban K. so she could escape her strict Iraqi family.

Algerian beauty blogger Khadidja O (pictured) was stabbed 50 times in the German city of Ingolstadt, her face completely disfigured from the number of stab wounds

Prosecutors say the killer couple had been contacting random girls on social media who looked enough like Shahraban K. to convince a coroner.

‘We have determined that the female suspect had decided to go into hiding due to family-internal arguments,’ State Prosecutor Veronika Grieser told local media on Thursday. ‘She wanted to fake her own death and start a new life.’

On August 9 last year, the killers sent their victim a message via social media offering her the opportunity to be 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. Would be great to hear from you. Would take place in Offenburg.’

And they added: ‘Must be kept a secret though until the song is released.’

But Khadidja grew suspicious and sent a message to the star’s official account. Lune replied saying: ‘It’s fake, sis. Don’t reply!’

Just two days later, the defendants used another Instagram account to get in touch.

Prosecutor Grieser said: ‘This time, they offered a beauty treatment which would come free of charge 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 Khadidja up 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 on the head at least once and then stabbed 56 times.’

Police Spokesman Andreas Aichele explained: ‘Her face was seriously injured with the more than 50 knife stabs.’

The killers put their victim’s body back into the car and abandoned the vehicle just a few blocks from where Shahraban K. lived in Ingolstadt.

Her horrified parents discovered the victim’s body in the Mercedes later that day and assumed it was their daughter.

German police officers had initially identified the body, located in the parked Mercedes, as Shahraban K – as the alleged killers had planned.

But suspicions about the body’s identity arose following an autopsy, and the victim has since been identified Khadidja.

Prosecutors said the couple aimed many of the slashes and stab wounds at 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 examinations and a check of the victim’s tattoos revealed her true identity.

Prosecutors – who plan to question 190 witnesses in court – charged the duo with murder following extensive DNA checks and the investigation of social media and mobile phone records.

The pair are being held in custody and their full trial is expected to start shortly.

Neither of them have ever made a statement or commented on the accusations.