Man sentenced to 8 years in jail for sexual abuse on Sakarya bus

Mesut Hasan Benli - ANKARA

File photo by Konstantinos Tsakalidis, Alamy Stock Photo

A man in the western Turkish province of Sakarya has been sentenced to jail for eight years for sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl on a public bus. 

According to court files, the assault happened on March 14, 2017 on a public bus going to Sakarya’s Karapürçek district.

The female high school student, identified only as Ş.A., was going home while standing on the bus when she was harassed by the man, identified as Musa G.

“He kept making his body touch mine. I initially thought that it was because the bus was climbing a ramp. But then he kept doing it. I changed my place and he grabbed my hips twice,” the plaintiff told the court.

Although the suspect pleaded not guilty, security camera footage of the bus confirmed the girl’s testimony.

The man was initially sentenced to three years in jail for harassment by a local court, but the plaintiff appealed, arguing for a harsher sentence.

The Ankara Regional Court accepted the appeal this week and increased the jail time to eight years, describing the crime as sexual abuse of a minor.