Court reduces sentence to woman’s killer for ‘non-fatal beating’

Burcu Purtul Uçar / ISTANBUL

A court ruling in Istanbul, which allowed a man to walk free after his wife died in hospital after being beaten by him, said in its reasoning that the man had beat his wife “non-fatally.”

“Regarding the fact that Celal Eripek beat his wife Remziye Eripek non-fatally, taking into account how many times he hit her and the tools he used, it is concluded that he did not intend to kill her. Rather, his intention was to injure her,” the Bakırköy 13th Court of Serious Crimes stated in its ruling.

Celal Eripek, 34, was released from prison on June 26 after serving just one year of a three-year sentence he received after the death of his wife, Remziye Eripek, 37, who was undergoing cancer treatment at the time of the beating.

The court had sentenced the man to four years in prison for “causing death by conscious negligence,” but the punishment was reduced to three years and four months due to the convict’s “good behavior” at court.

The court later decided to release Eripek on the grounds that he had already served one year in prison while the trial was ongoing. 

According to the indictment prepared by the prosecutor’s office, Eripek beat to death his wife of 17 years - who had been diagnosed with a heart disease and was also undergoing cancer treatment - with a 69-centimeter-long wooden bat. He then beat their 16-year-old daughter Zehra and 15-year-old son Orhan after they tried to stop him at their home in Istanbul’s Bağcılar district on May 2, 2014.

His wife was immediately taken to hospital after the beating, but she ultimately succumbed to her injuries.
 
In his testimony, Eripek claimed that he had started arguing with his wife after she refused to iron his clothes. He said he hit her in the back and face and also kicked her, but claimed that she hit her own head against the wall. 

The complainant’s attorney, Züleyha Gülüm, said at court that it was common knowledge that beating a person with a heart disease could trigger a heart attack, and because the husband knew of his wife’s illness he should be convicted for murder.