A Syrian pizza delivery man living in Germany who stabbed his wife 31 times in front of their three children after mistakenly believing she was cheating on him has been jailed for life.

The man named only as Wahid S., aged 30, because of local privacy laws, was handed a life sentence by the regional court in the city of Paderborn, in the Western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia for brutally stabbing his 20-year-old wife Nuha 31 times in their VW car in front of their three children, twins aged 6 and another child aged 5.

He had married her in Syria when she was 14 and she was pregnant a short while later with the twins. She was pregnant a second time when he fled to Germany and was later allowed to join him with the children.

During the trial, the judge told the 30-year-old pizza delivery man: “You believed that you could control your wife’s life and that you have the right to kill her.”

Wahid S. denied that he had killed Nuha in the incident which took place in November 2020 and instead attempted to cast suspicion on family members, according to German daily Bild.

The night of the murder, Wahid and Nuha had been arguing in a cousin’s apartment, with the Syrian dad incorrectly believing that his wife had been cheating on him.

He pretended to put the argument behind them in front of the family members but then secretly went to the kitchen and hid a butcher’s knife in his clothes, still according to Bild.

A short while later, when the couple and their children were in their Volkswagen Golf car, he suddenly began stabbing his wife. She bled to death in the passenger seat and he was taken into custody by the police.

The judge said: “He acted out of a deeply patriarchal understanding of honour.”

Under German law, a person sentenced to life in prison can apply for parole after having served at least 15 years.