A teenager was left militated after an 'animalistic' attack over a €50 debt, a court has heard in Germany.

The Eritrean attacker stabbed his 18-year-old fellow refugee victim with two knives in his throat before cutting off both of his eyelids and stabbing him with a ballpoint pen in both eyeballs.

Afterwards he bit off both his ears and chewed them so they could not be reattached.

The Eritrean attacker stabbed his 18-year-old fellow refugee victim with two knives in his throat before cutting off both of his eyelids and stabbing him with a ballpoint pen in both eyeballs

Hanau State Court heard that surgeons were lucky to save the young man's life - but he will never see again.

The attack took place in Schlüchtern in the state of Hesse in October 2016.

The refugee attacker, 19, said he was incensed at the fact he had been 'stiffed' over the loan. But a criminologist said more must have lain behind the frenzied assault.

Rudolf Egg from Wiesbaden said: 'The fact that the victim's ears were ripped off like a wild animal is almost animalistic - a most unusual case.

'The deed was by no means a normal brawl. If you only want to hurt your victim, you don't have to do such things.'

The criminal psychologist suspects that it must have been about more than money.

He added: 'Perhaps jealousy played a role. Because the perpetrator did not want his victim to be injured but to be displaced. He wanted him to look ugly and desecrated.'

The court heard that a resident in the refugee accommodation where the assault occurred heard loud screams from the home of the perpetrator and called police. Officers broke down the door and seized the bloodstained attacker sitting atop his victim who was lying in a pool of blood.

The victim, a Somalian, was rushed to hospital after the assault prosecutors labeled 'ritualistic.'

The attacker is being charged with assault and attempted murder.

'The investigating authorities have never experienced here before this form of violence. The victim was cruelly mutilated and must reckon with permanent damage. It is unclear whether the man permanently blinded,' said a police spokesman at the time.

Both men had homes in the same street but not in the same building.

A verdict is expected in June.