GETTY - STOCK IMAGE A Chinese student was allegedly raped at the university campus of Bochum

FREE now and never miss the top politics stories again. SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up fornow and never miss the top politics stories again. We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

The 21-year-old Chinese woman, who was not named under strict German privacy laws, flew back to Germany to attend the start of the trial against 32-year-old Iraqi migrant Ziyad K. The Iraqi asylum seeker has been charged by prosecutors with raping the Chinese student and nearly strangling one to death last summer at the university campus of Bochum, a city in the Western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He is also suspected of having raped another Chinese student aged 27 near the university indoor swimming pool on November 16, last year.

GETTY - STOCK IMAGE The 21-year-old woman flew back to Germany to attend the trial against Iraqi migrant Ziyad K

The 21-year-old Chinese woman did not need to testify in person at the trial, but decided herself that she wanted to be there in person so she took a flight back to Europe from Beijing.

He took a noose and pulled it around my neck. Then he took a branch and hit my backside. I became dizzy, I saw black Victim

At the request of the victim's lawyer Doerte Ganzer the court had excluded the public from the testimony of the victim. But when Judge Volker Talarowski wanted to send out the court visitors the petite Chinese student bravely said: “This is not necessary. I keep talking until it gets too much for me.” The Chinese student explained how on her way back from a supermarket she was grabbed from behind by the perpetrator who held her in a stranglehold and dragged her into a patch of forest.

She said: “He took a noose and pulled it around my neck. Then he took a branch and hit my backside. I became dizzy, I saw black.” With a firm voice she told that the perpetrator pushed his hairy hand into her trousers and raped her a few moments later. In the meantime, he had tightened the noose so tightly around her neck that she could barely breathe. She said: “At that moment, I thought I was only 21 years old and had to die far from home.” Ziyad K. was arrested at an asylum centre in Bochum after the police linked him via DNA evidence and by tracking the location of his mobile at the time of the rapes, which matched with the location of the university campus. The presiding judge pointed out to the Iraqi asylum seeker that a confession would save the victims from having to make a statement and could mitigate his case when it came to sentencing.

GETTY - STOCK IMAGE The asylum seeker has been charged with raping the student and nearly strangling one to death