A man who raped a young woman and then tortured her before cutting her throat and crushing her skull with a stone has been sentenced to life in jail.
The horrific murder took place in Varsak forest in the district of Kepez in the southern Turkish province of Antalya, where 48-year-old Cengiz Dok raped 23-year-old Gulizar Turan, smashed her head with a stone and slashed her throat twice on 14th August 2016.
Dok, who fled the scene leaving Gulizar in the forest, was later arrested and transferred to the court.
He tried to claim that the sex with the young woman who was less than half his age had been consensual for money, and that it was only afterwards that they had argued and he had killed her, but the court rejected this.
In the case held at the Antalya 3rd High Criminal Court, Cengiz was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment. However, the case was moved to the First Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeal upon the objection of the defendant’s lawyer.
The verdict of the Supreme Court came after they confirmed that it was aggravated murder with the intention of killing with deliberate cruelty. It was emphasized that during the autopsy, the woman had suffered considerably before she died.
With the autopsy report, it was revealed that Gulizar was sexually assaulted, her head was hit on the ground more than once, and that her skull was then caved in using repeated blows from a stone.
In addition, it was determined that Gulizar had her throat cut twice, one cut being 11 centimetres long and the other 15 centimetres long.
Dok’s aggravated life sentence was therefore upheld.
According to the Turkish Penal Code, prisoners sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment can be paroled only after serving at least 36 years.
Hearing the court’s verdict, Gulizar’s mother, Menekse Kocabas, age not disclosed, so she was more than satisfied with the result.
In the report of the local news agency DHA, Menekse said, “I hope he doesn’t ever get out of there. This was our greatest desire. We were delighted to receive this news”.
She added, “May God bless the judges and prosecutors who made this decision. Justice has now found its place.”