Attacker who punched girl’s face in Istanbul’s Kadıköy arrested
ISTANBUL
A man was arrested on Jan. 28 for punching a 17-year-old girl in the face in a street in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district.
The attacker had been detained following the attack but had been released under judicial control. Following the release, the parents of the young girl filed a complaint against the attacker.
The Istanbul Court ordered the attacker’s arrest on charges of “deliberate injury.”
“The social significance of the action that had been undertaken without reason means interfering with the rights of people, especially the rights of women, to move freely,” said the justification for the court order.
The incident was revealed after footage from surveillance cameras mounted on a street in the Kadıköy district emerged on social media.
The man punched the girl in the face for no reason while she was walking down the street.
“I was walking to school this way, the way I have always done. A man came up to me and punched me, then continued walking. I started to scream as people nearby rushed to help me,” she said.
She also said she was very pleased by the attention shown by the Turkish police into the matter.
“Something that made me happy is that the police had shown great interest [in my case] and had caught the man in the same day,” she added.
The young girl’s mother said they focused on arresting the attacker after the incident.
“I was so scared. It was important for him to be caught as soon as possible because children usually use this path on their way to school,” she said.
A witness of the incident, İsmail Seven, who was also a shop owner on the same street, said her nose had been bleeding.
“When we came out of the shop, her nose was bleeding and she collapsed on her knees. There was a lot of blood flowing from her nose. She said she did not know who had hit her,” he said.
