A GERMAN man who allegedly killed his lover with a cucumber is now facing up to five years in prison.

Rica Varna died after Oliver Dietmann put the vegetable in her mouth — and left it there — after the two used it as a sex toy, the Daily Mail reported.

Dietmann, 46, who is on trial for negligent homicide, told the court in Mannheim that on July 19, 2014, he invited Varna, also 46, to his place, where they polished off four bottles of wine and several glasses of schnapps.

Dietmann admitted to putting the cucumber in her mouth, but said her death was an accident. “Suddenly I saw there was smoke coming from the kitchen,” he testified. “I forgot that I had put a piece of meat on the stove for my dog.

“I ran to the kitchen, fed my dog and then went on to the balcony to smoke a cigarette.”

By the time he returned to the bedroom, Varna was unconscious.

“I tried to get the cucumber pieces out of her mouth,” he said, adding that they were too mushy.

Medical experts said Varna fell into a coma after the cucumber cut off her breathing.

“The defendant must have known that he should not have left her for so long on her own,” prosecutor Reinhard Hoffmann said.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and is republished with permission.

Originally published as Woman dies using cucumber as sex toy