Diyarbakır court rules that child’s consent ‘non-debatable’ in sexual abuse case

DİYARBAKIR

The consent of a 12-year-old girl is not eligible for debate, a court has ruled in a child sexual abuse case in the southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakır.

The girl, who was reportedly forced into prostitution by her aunt, suffers from mental disabilities and was sexually abused by four men.

According to the indictment, the girl traveled to Diyarbakır from Istanbul during the summer break in July 2014, to spend time with her family at her grandfather’s house.

One day she left the house with her aunt but went missing for two days. During this time, the aunt allegedly received money to have sexual intercourse with four different men while the girl was present. The child was sexually abused by those same men, according to reports.

When the girl was found on a street by her mother two days later, she was taken to police headquarters, where she filed a complaint against her aunt and two other women, whom she claimed were complicit in the crime.

The prosecutor then sought between eight and 15 years of jail-time for the aunt, the two women and the four men, on charges of “sexually abusing a child.”

During the 15th hearing of the case in Diyarbakır Fourth Heavy Penal Court, all suspects denied the allegations, but the court said their claims of “consented sexual acts” were non-debatable, since the girl in question was only 12-years-old, and the forensic report clearly showed signs of sexual abuse.

The court board sentenced one of the men to 25 years, two of the men to 20 years, and the fourth to 10 years in prison.

While the two women who allegedly aided the aunt in prostitution were acquitted, the aunt received an eight-year prison sentence for “aiding the crime of sexual abuse.”