A man who claimed that shooting his girlfriend was accidental despite her being shot four times has gone on trial for murder.
Hasan Fakioglu, 22, a hairdresser in Eskisehir, Turkey, is accused of shooting his girlfriend Aysenur Colakoglu, 21, in the head and chest with a pistol during an argument at his flat in Tepebasi.
The beautiful young woman, who was in a relationship with Fakioglu for about eight months, was hit four times.
Fakioglu also claimed that he shot Aysenur accidentally during a row after she admitted that she had cheated on him.
But her devastated father, Mesut Colakoglu, told local media they had split up four months before and that Fakioglu had been pestering his daughter ever since.
Neighbours called emergency services on 18th December, 2022, after hearing gunfire and paramedics went straight to the scene, but Aysenur died of her wounds a short while later.
Fakioglu and a friend identified only as M. F., who was present at the time of the shooting, were arrested.
The prime suspect reportedly admitted that he had shot Aysenur but claimed her death was an accident.
He told reporters while being transferred by police: “I thought she was cheating on me. She died by accident.”
Fakioglu told the court at the first hearing of his trial in September: “On the day of the incident, Aysenur called me and said she wanted to meet.”
He added: “We met at a cafe, Aysenur told me we should go home and talk. My intention was to take her to the hospital and have her checked to see if she was pregnant.
“We went to my house by taxi. When we were alone, she told me she wasn’t pregnant. So I said let’s end our relationship.
“She reached for the gun under my bed and chaos broke out. She tried to commit suicide with the gun.
“I tried to get the gun, there was chaos.
“Meanwhile, the gun suddenly went off. I did not kill her by shooting her. I don’t know how the gun was fired during the chaos, I was in shock.
“My friend came and tried to bring me to my senses.”
Fakioglu said that he had bought the unlicensed gun after his father and uncle were shot in 2008.
Aysenur was also a hairdresser and had taken her final exam to get her certificate so she could open her own salon just hours before she was killed.
At the trial, Mesut, Aysenur’s father, said: “My daughter had dreams. We had dreams with my daughter. I was going to retire and we were going to open a hair salon business for her.
“The defendant stole my daughter’s dreams. This is femicide. He fired four bullets, he fired four bullets, what kind of accident is this? My daughter did not deserve this.”
Femicide is a growing problem in Turkey, particularly after the country officially quit the Istanbul Convention in July 2021.
According to data from the ‘Monument Counter’, which is “a digital memorial for women killed by violence” and is updated daily, 393 women were killed by men in 2022, while 188 femicides have taken place in Turkey so far this year.
