German prosecutors are investigating footballer Jerome Boateng for allegedly tearing the ear of his girlfriend Kasia Lenhardt a year before her death.

The case against Boateng, which was first opened in 2019 before being shelved last year, has now been re-opened by prosecutors after new information emerged from the Berlin police inquiries that followed Lenhardt's suicide.

Boateng is accused of intentionally injuring Lenhardt, a former Germany's Next Top Model contestant, in October 2019 - a little over a year before the brutal public break-up that ended in her death in a Berlin apartment earlier this month.

The Bayern Munich player, 32, is also accused of assault in a separate case involving his ex-partner Sherin Senler, which is on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The incident involving Lenhardt is said to have taken place on October 3, 2019, prompting authorities to open an investigation in December that year.

The probe against Boateng was shelved six months later in June 2020, partly because Lenhardt had indicated she did not want to proceed with her claims.

But the case was re-opened on February 10 this year, just a day after Lenhardt was found dead in Berlin, said Anne Leiding, a spokeswoman for Munich prosecutors.

This was because 'we received new information in the context of the investigation into her death, which could lead to a resumption of the case,' she told MailOnline.

Prosecutors have not given details about the alleged injury, but Bild reports that Boateng is suspected of tearing his then-girlfriend's earlobe.

The case involving Senler was filed with a Munich court in 2019 but prosecutors have been told that it cannot proceed for the moment because of the virus situation.

In that case, Boateng is accused of causing 'dangerous' bodily harm to Senler.

Boateng's lawyer also tried to have a charge filed against a prosecutor in 2020 for wrongfully pursuing his client, but that case was thrown out last August.

Senler is the mother of two of Boateng's children - twin girls called Soley and Lamia who were born in 2011.

The pair first began dating in 2007, leading to an on-off relationship which finally ended in 2018, according to German media.

Some time after the 2018 split, Boateng began dating Jamaican model Rebecca Silvera, before later entering a relationship with Lenhardt.

Kasia rose to prominence on the TV show Germany's Next Top Model where she appeared in 2012, placing fourth in the competition.

But that relationship ended in acrimony earlier this year and then in tragedy when Lenhardt was found dead at her Berlin apartment on February 9.

Polish-born Kasia - real name Katarzyna - was embroiled a vicious fight that saw the couple exchange blows via social media and the press.

Boateng had accused Lenhardt of blackmailing him with fake allegations while she accused the footballer of infidelity.

A friend of Kasia's said she was found dead after a family member had raised the alarm after failing to get hold of her.

'Kasia was at home on her own. A member of her family called the police because they could not get hold of her and they were worried,' the friend said.

'She died a week after Jerome gave an interview in which he said their relationship was over. He said some really nasty things about Kasia. She was very upset by it.'

Boateng also has a third child, a son named Jermar, who was born in 2015.

The footballer has revealed the boy's name is made up of the first three letters of his name and his mother's name but has not revealed who the woman is.