Suspect in hotel room assault incident released

KIRIKKALE

A woman who has alleged that she was harassed by a man who sneaked into her room while she was sleeping has filed a complaint against both the suspect and the hotel management.

Kardelen Kamişli, an electrical engineer based in Ankara, had a nightmarish experience in the hotel room where she stayed for a night in the Central Anatolian province of Kırıkkale on Sept. 9.

She saw a man sitting by her bed watching her when she woke up in the middle of the night.

Kamişli said on Twitter that as soon as she saw the stranger, she started shouting and demanding that the man leave the room.

She said that the man ran away from the room as soon as she called the reception.

“Seconds after I told the receptionist about the incident at the door. The attendant left later. There was a knock on my door again and I opened the door thinking that the attendant had come again,” she told daily Hürriyet in an interview.

“When I looked down the corridor without leaving my room, I saw this man again making a ‘keep quiet’ sign from behind a column. I immediately locked my door and called the police,” Kamişli added.

She said the police had not believed her and asked if she had a nightmare, adding that in the meantime she learned that the same man had entered other rooms at the hotel.

Kamişli claimed that the police forces came to the hotel and took the suspect away, but then made an offer to reconcile the parties.

Many Twitter users demanded that an action be initiated against the suspect and the hotel management as the story of the woman caused controversy on social media.

The Kırıkkale Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into the incident upon the woman’s complaint.

Detained upon the complaint, the suspect, Seyit Muhammed Sarı, was released by a court to which he was referred.

In his statement to the police, he claimed that he entered the wrong room because he was intoxicated.

The Kırıkkale Governor’s Office announced that it has initiated a legal action against two persons, including the hotel officer.

Speaking to Hürriyet daily, Gökhan Algül, the owner of the Carmine Hotel, said that they did not know how the suspect entered the room and that the security cameras on the floors had malfunctioned.