Femicide defendant claims his 74-year-old wife was chatting with men

İsmail Saymaz – ISTANBUL

An 83-year-old Turkish man who confessed to murdering his 74-year-old wife appeared in an Istanbul court on Jan. 21, saying that she had been chatting with other men and threatening to divorce him.

In his plea of guilty in the 8th High Criminal Court in Istanbul, Bilal Aksakal said that his late wife Esme Aksakal had been flirting with a man over the phone, sending messages and photos. He also claimed that she had decided to move to Turkey’s western province of Çanakkale with that man from Germany, where the couple had been living.

“‘Please don’t do that,’ I said. My wife said: ‘I will go. If you are a man, take a knife and stab it, finish it.’ She pushed the knife holder towards me. I pulled one of the knives and waved it towards Esme. She fell down with a single strike,” he told the court.

Aksakal went on saying that he slashed his own arms and took sleeping pills before falling asleep right beside the victim.

However, Saadet Olcay, the victim’s sister, said that Esme Aksakal had been exposed to domestic violence for a long time.

“My sister said that she was chatting on social media and it was none of anybody’s business. She wanted to divorce,” said Olcay.

Feyza Altun, the lawyer of Esme Aksakal’s family, pointed that murderers of women make similar pleas, no matter the age of the victim.

“Defendants try to get abatements with similar alibis. Women should be free to use social media and it should not end up with murder. This one was a deliberate murder,” she said.

They will demand an aggravated life sentence for Bilal Aksakal, she added.