A mother of young children will spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair after a brutal knife attack allegedly carried out by her Ghanaian former partner, a court in Bremen, Germany, heard this week.

Marie G., 33, was left with life-changing injuries after prosecutors say she was stabbed in the neck and back, beaten, and dragged by her hair through her apartment by 39-year-old Raymond Richard King A. in the early hours of April 24 this year.

As reported by Bild, prosecutors allege that the attack was triggered by Marie’s decision to end the relationship. The defendant, they say, entered her home in Bremen-Hastedt without warning at around 3:10 a.m. and attacked her as she slept. Armed with a 19-centimeter knife, he is accused of stabbing her in the neck, a blow that sparked Marie to wake up covered in blood and try to flee.

However, the court heard how Marie was punched repeatedly in the face and dragged into the living room, where prosecutors say she was stabbed again in the back. Her lawyer, Christina Walter, told the German tabloid, “Her young children had to witness parts of the crime.”

In a desperate attempt to escape, Marie jumped from a second-floor window, landing legs first. She survived but suffered multiple fractures to her nose, foot, bones, and leg in addition to the stab wounds. “My client is not doing well at all,” Walter said. “She sustained severe injuries, could only be saved by an 11-hour emergency surgery, and has been paralyzed ever since.”

Speaking to RTL, Walter described the assault as “extremely brutal” and said it was “gender-based violence” and an “attempted femicide.” It is also, however, yet another incident of brutal violence by a foreign national in Germany.

“The defendant could not and would not accept that she was separating from him and would rather see her dead than separate from him,” Walter added.

The prosecution is seeking the maximum possible sentence. “We are dealing with gender-based violence here, with an attempted femicide. We demand the maximum penalty,” she told Bild.

Court spokeswoman Henrike Kull noted that “the law generally provides for life imprisonment for murder. Since the alleged crime remained an attempt, the sentence can be reduced.” The maximum sentence for attempted murder in Germany is 15 years.

The defendant’s immigration status has not been made public.

The trial will continue on Oct. 28.