Defendant Asadullah K is pictured during a trial on December 1, 2015 at a courthouse in Darmstadt. PHOTO: AFP

Defendant Shazia K with her head covered attends a trial on December 1, 2015 at a courthouse in Darmstadt. PHOTO: AFP

A German court Tuesday sentenced a Pakistan-born couple to life in jail for the "honour killing" of their 19-year-old daughter, who had had sex before marriage.The 52-year-old father was found guilty of strangling the teenager to death, and the 41-year-old mother was also jailed, as an accessory to murder, by the regional court in the western city of Darmstadt.The deeply conservative Muslim parents had killed their daughter, Lareeb Khan, in January because she had been in a pre-marital sexual relationship, the court was told.According toAsadullah Khansaid he believed his daughter had brought ‘dishonour’ to the family by being in a relationship with a boy he did not approve of.He said he wanted Lareeb to have an arranged marriage as he and his wife had done.Khan's wife, Shazia, said her daughter had stayed away from the family home for several nights in a row and had stopped wearing her headscarf.Claiming she was unable to stop her husband from killing Lareeb, Shazia said, “I couldn’t stop him.”“I have rheumatism and didn’t have the strength to fight him off. I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t,” the statement added."One day we received a letter from the police saying she had been caught trying to steal condoms. At this point it became clear that there was sexual contact. When I showed the letter to my husband he snapped.”The defence had sought a lesser sentence of manslaughter. The couple will be able to apply for parole after 15 years.