A poster-boy dustman has gone on trial for stabbing his wife 13 times after she tried to divorce him, leaving their two sons without a mother.

Yazidi man Huseyin C. could once be seen grinning widely in a photo used by the Celle Waste Management Association on its app.

But now the 37-year-old is in the dock of the regional court in Hildesheim, Germany, accused of the murder of his wife, 35-year-old Esra C., on 3rd May.

Prosecutors accuse Huseyin C. of stabbing Esra 13 times in a car park in Burgdorf.

They believe he carried out the sick act after she moved out of the family home and was seeking a divorce.

The couple’s relationship had been marked by episodes of domestic violence, and Esra was afraid of her husband, her sisters told local media.

But the defendant’s work boss, 46-year-old Christoph K., gave his subordinate a glowing reference.

He told the court on 14th November: “Huseyin was very popular with colleagues, always helpful, a real role model.

“He was always in a good mood, spoke very euphorically about home, his wife, his two sons.”

But Christoph K. also revealed how Huseyin had once approached him in a glum mood to ask for an extended period of leave.

He told the court: “He said his wife left him. He’s afraid that she won’t come back, that he’s alone with the children. He needs time to sort things out.”

He told how he received a message from Huseyin on WhatsApp a week later reading: “I can’t take it anymore, I’m so exhausted.”

The bloody crime is believed to have been committed just hours later.

The trial is ongoing.

Yazidis are indigenous to Kurdistan – a geo-cultural territory in the Middle East.

Following persecution at the hands of radical Muslims, Germany now hosts the second-largest number of Yazidis, after Iraq.