Virginie Sonya, a 24-year-old Cameroonian woman living in Germany, died after being stabbed on Monday, August 31, 2026, in Erkner, a municipality in the eastern suburbs of Berlin. The attack took place in the street, around 6:30 a.m., on Leo-Hendrik-Baekeland-Straße.
According to accounts gathered by German authorities, a man violently attacked the young woman, striking her several times with a knife before fleeing the scene. Passers-by alerted police, who were able to identify and arrest the suspect shortly afterward.
The man arrested is a 29-year-old Congolese national, identified by investigators as the victim's ex-partner. The couple had a child together, and a dispute related to custody of that child is among the leads being examined by investigators.
The competent public prosecutor's office has sought a murder warrant against the suspect. The investigation, still ongoing at the time of publication, is working to establish the precise circumstances of the case.
The news stirred strong emotion within Germany's Cameroonian diaspora, where several community pages shared word of the femicide in the hours that followed.
