Taxi driver sentenced to prison for assaulting woman

ISTANBUL

A driver in Istanbul has been sentenced to more than one year in prison for assaulting a woman.

The Istanbul 51st Court of First Instance convicted taxi driver Şenol Göktürkoğlu, 33, for “willfully injuring” and “insulting” 31-year-old passenger Canan Ay on May 21.

Video footage in the court files show Göktürkoğlu arguing with Ay for walking “too slowly” on the street with her sister. He then got out of the taxi and headbutt her, knocking her to the ground. Afterward, he went back into the taxi and tried to run over her. The woman tried to stop him from getting away by opening the back door and getting into the taxi. But he stopped the car, dragged her out by her feet and drove away.

In the hearing, Göktürkoğlu said he had been “slandered” by the two sisters, but the court decided to issue the heaviest penalty possible in Turkish law. 

“Justice is served,” Ay told journalists after the ruling.

Göktürkoğlu has been under arrest since May 23, the day the video footage was leaked on social media, stirring public outcry.