Court releases Turkish woman who killed ‘sexual abuser’ father-in-law

Aziz Özen – ISTANBUL

An Istanbul court released a woman who had shot her father-in-law to death in Istanbul at the first hearing on Sept. 18, after she testified that he had sexually abused her.

The prosecutor sought 18 years of jail time for the victim, who is identified as E.Y., but the court ruled for her release in an interim decision, citing she had a child to take care of and did not pose the risk of running away or tampering with evidence, and considering the time she had spent in jail.

In the first trial on the killing, E.Y. told the court she shot her father-in-law once in the head in Istanbul’s Beykoz district last February and then called the police. The court ordered her release upon evaluating she had a son among other reasons, as her mother-in-law and husband also sided with her.

“My intention was to kill myself but I could not do it when my son came to mind,” she testified to the judge.

The suspect said her father-in-law had attempted sexual intercourse with her on the day of the incident but she rejected him. “He later threatened to kill my son and hit me. So I took my son and ran away and left him with my aunt before I took my brother’s gun and went back home,” she told the court. 

The 35-year-old said her 65-year-old father-in-law had verbally and physically harassed her ever since she was married in 2011 and raped her in 2012, while her husband was in prison.

The suspect’s mother-in-law, S.Y., told the court her husband consistently attempted to kiss, bite and hug E.Y. among other things, which she said she could not say before the court.

S.Y. said her husband had physically attacked her when she had tried to intervene. The man also used to beat her previous daughter-in-law, she said.

“That rascal of a man is not my father,” said E.Y.’s husband also testifying before the court.

“His death is beneficial for society,” the suspect’s lawyer Aydın Mollaoğlu told the court. 

The trial was postponed.