Prosecutor beats courts’ stubbornness on DNA test in student’s rape case

Fevzi Kızılkoyun – ANKARA

A Turkish prosecutor has finally succeeded in convincing a court to order a DNA test in the case of alleged the sexual assault of an 18-year-old student after failing on two previous occasions. 

Prosecutor Günay Serap Yüksel refused to abandon the case after two failures, as she managed to convince the court to acquire a DNA sample from a baby born from the alleged sexual assault victim, high school student B.E., in order to prove that the suspect in the case is guilty. 

According to the file in the case, B.E. was allegedly sexually assaulted and impregnated by a man, Ö.G., in Ankara. The family became suspicious after the student’s belly started to grow and took their daughter to a hospital. 

After determining that B.E. had been pregnant for 7.5 months, the family filed a complaint to the Public Prosecutor’s Office on Aug. 26, 2016, with their daughter. In her testimony, B.E. said she was raped by Ö.G., whom she had known from the neighborhood. 

“He took me in his car in order to drive me to school. He took me to a vacant area and sexually assaulted me in the car. He threatened me, so I couldn’t tell anybody,” she said, prompting authorities to release a detention warrant for Ö.G.

However, it was determined that Ö.G. was already in jail for another crime he committed. In his testimony taken with an order, Ö.G. denied the rape claims while adding that “he is ready to look after the child if the baby is from him.”

“I had sexual intercourse with B.E. with her consent. There wasn’t any forceful intercourse. Let the DNA test be conducted; if the baby is from me, I’m ready to look after the child,” he said. 

B.E. gave birth to a baby as the investigations were ongoing. The prosecutor carrying out the investigation, Yüksel, applied to an Ankara court for a DNA test to be conducted in order for the father of the baby to be determined. However, the court refused to conduct the test, saying there was not “sufficient evidence.” A second court also rejected Yüksel’s request. 

Undeterred, Yüksel applied once again to a third court for a DNA test. The court found the prosecutor’s request reasonable and ordered that a test be conducted. 

The result of the DNA test will have bearing on the continuation of the case.