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(Image: GETTY)

The man even complained in court that his wife had become a new woman after arriving in the West, saying: "She had treated me with respect in my home country, but not anymore in Germany."

The accused rapist, identified only as Abdul A, 34, appeared in a court in the German capital of Berlin for assaulting and abusing his 26-year-old wife.

The defendant, who fled Syria seven months ago, has partially confessed to the crimes, saying: "I did not know forcing your wife to have sex is punishable here."

(Image: CEN)

The court heard that the man and his petite wife had been married under Islamic law and he also admitted to beating her up while she was in hospital being treated for injuries he had caused.

He said he had gone to meet her to ask her to get back together with him, and was furious when she told him that there was another man in her life.

Abdul A. said: "In the asylum seeker accommodation there were always these rumours. Now, for the first time, I learned it from her mouth."

He also faces charges of flinging his son onto the floor while they were standing in the food queue together. He is also supposed to have kicked the three-year-old, named Emad.

He said: "I threw him up in the air, yeah. Then he fell from my hands and crashed onto the tiled floor. I'm so sorry. I had so many problems in my head. It was a difficult situation in which we lived there."

The court case against the Syrian migrant is set to continue again on 8th November.