Court arrests three over ‘sexually abusing’ girls for months on island

Gülden Aydın - ISTANBUL

Three middle-school girls, including two siblings, have reportedly been subjected to sexual abuse on Istanbul’s Kınalıada island for the last one-and-a-half years, but could not relate the incident to anyone as they were being threatened and blackmailed.

The issue surfaced on May 8 after one of the teachers witnessed the girls fighting at the school and heard them talking about rape to one another, according to the newspaper. The teacher, who is also a counselor at the school, then reported the incident to authorities, after which the girls provided testimony in the presence of psychologists. 

The three girls’ statements revealed that two of the rape suspects were working as bicycle dealers, while one was a hardware man on the island. All the suspects are between the ages of 28 and 30. 

The girls told authorities that the suspects had recorded their naked images, threatening to share them on social media if they ever told anyone about the sexual abuse.

The police consequently searched the suspects’ houses and seized various digital materials for further analysis. 

Following their testimonies, the girls, aged between 13 and 15, were referred to a children’s home in Bakırköy for psychological support. 

Residents of the island expressed fury about the incident.

“They [the suspects] were all married men whom we knew and trusted. My daughter D. is 13 years old. They threatened and blackmailed her. There is no going back from this incident,” one of the fathers of the girls said. 

“Those vile people were our close relatives … We shared our house and our bread all these years. Let the state give the severest punishment. F. is 13 years old and E. is 15 years old. How can they do this?” the father of the two siblings said.