Reduced jail sentence for Turkish singer’s murderer with ‘passionate love’ motive

ANKARA

A Turkish court has sentenced the murderer of a female singer to whom he had proposed and was rejected by, to a life sentence instead of an aggravated life sentence on grounds that the killer did not stab the singer “deliberately,” but with “passionate love.”  

Ankara’s 1st Court of Serious Crimes has decided to punish Orhan Munis, who killed Hatice Kaçmaz by stabbing her 16 times in a park in Ankara in 2014, to life sentence, in spite of the aggravated life sentence originally sought, daily Milliyet reported Nov. 9. The court said Munis’ act of stabbing could not be considered as “deliberate homicide,” as “he took a knife to the park where they [Munis and Kaçmaz] always met with the effect of sentimentalism and rage that was rooted from excessive love at the level of a passion,” in its decision, thus making it a crime of passion, not reason.

Kaçmaz, who was a folk music singer for the state-run TRT channel, had been in a relationship with Munis for a while but had rejected his marriage proposal after discovering that he had hidden his criminal record from her. She agreed to meet him in Ankara at a park for the last time after a phone call from Munis. During the meeting, Munis stabbed Kaçmaz 16 times and did not call the paramedics. 

Munis had defended his carrying of a knife by saying he had been on his way to purchase an animal to sacrifice in the name of God, though no money was found on him. He later explained that he had “dropped the money.”

Ceren Şimşek, attorney of Kaçmaz’s family, said Munis hid the knife on his ankle. 

The court said that Munis’ emotional burnout and rage was visible by the number of stab wounds delivered. 

“The rage blocked the suspect from thinking and acting cold-bloodedly, thus, making it impossible to call it a planned act,” read a part of the court’s reasoned decision. 

Prosecutor Bilal Gündüz had sought an aggravated life sentence for Munis on grounds of “deliberate homicide,” but a new prosecutor appointed to the case, Banu Aksoy, changed the initial sentence and asked for Munis to be charged only with “homicide.” 

The court accepted this demand and charged the murderer with “homicide,” thus paving the way for reduction of his jail time from aggravated life sentence to life sentence. 

If Munis had been sentenced to aggravated life sentence, he would have stayed behind bars for more than 30 years. With a life sentence, the convict usually leaves prison after around 15 years.