A couple in Germany have been charged with child sex abuse after their baby son suffered injuries so severe surgeons had to fit him with an artificial anus.

The parents, named as Ismail S., 23, and Nina R., 26, allegedly abused the tot at their home in the city of Ludwigshafen in the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Nina R., a saleswoman, is accused of causing the severe injuries to the child when he was just six weeks old.

Ismail S, 23, and Nina R, 26, allegedly abused the tot at their home in the city of Ludwigshafen in the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate

Chief prosecutor Hubert Stroeber said: 'She wanted to get sexual satisfaction.'

Ismail S. also allegedly took part in the abuse of the boy, causing a 'bloody wound' in the baby's genital area as well as a 'visible and painful bruise', according to prosecutors.

The couple took the baby to a hospital where doctors detected severe peritonitis, the inflammation of the peritoneum typically caused by the rupture of an abdominal organ.

Shocked medics also found the baby to be suffering from a skull injury, a cerebral haemorrhage, fractured ribs, bruising to the lungs and heart, and bleeding from the eyes. They also suspected that the tot suffered from older fractures.

According to local media, the baby required emergency surgery and an artificial anus as a result of the horrific injuries.

Mr Stroeber added: 'Even professionals in my public prosecutor's office were shocked.'

Chief prosecutor Hubert Stroeber said of the child's mother: 'She wanted to get sexual satisfaction'

The little boy, who is now seven months old, is currently living with a foster family.

Family and friends told local media that Nina R. had shown signs of cruelty even as a child when she had allegedly tortured two guinea pigs to death.

The saleswoman met Ismail S. in November 2017, and soon became pregnant before delivering a healthy baby boy at the end of August last year.

They have been detained in custody since last November and the public prosecutor's office has now charged them with grievous bodily harm and sexual abuse.

Their trial is scheduled for May.