Turkish man dodges jail after sexual abuse of Spanish Erasmus student on bus

İsmail Saymaz - ESKİŞEHİR

A Turkish man has walked free after being convicted of sexually abusing a Spanish university student on a bus.

The 22-year-old student, who was unidentified, was enrolled at Anadolu University in the western province of Eskişehir as part of the Erasmus exchange program while recently traveling to İzmir for sightseeing with her friends.

According to court documents, a Turkish high school teacher sitting behind the Spanish woman and her French friend, started touching her breasts by extending his hand from behind the student, who was asleep toward the end of the journey.

“I initially thought it was a dream. But I realized it was not when I woke up and found his hand on my right breast. He then withdrew his hand and my friend also woke up. I started to cry and we called the bus attendant,” she told the court, adding the man kept saying, “Sorry, sorry.”

The 39-year-old teacher, who was unidentified, attempted to flee the scene when the bus was halted at the station, but other passengers caught him in front of a police center.

Although in his testimony, the man claimed “he did not know what he had done in his sleep,” the Eskişehir Fourth Court of First Instance sentenced him to two years in jail for sexual assault.

However, citing that the man voiced regret, the court reduced the sentence to 20 months and then suspended it. after being convicted of sexually abusing a Spanish university student on a bus.