A Turkish man who murdered his wife leaving their daughter alone has had his sentence reduced by up to 20 years after telling the court that she had it coming because she told him he was “not a real man”.
The move left the family of the dead woman outraged who argued that there was no evidence at all that the dead young woman had said anything of the sort and it was like killing her again to judge her when she was no longer there to defend herself.
According to news outlet Milliyet, the murder happened after a row between Alime Demirdag, 32, and her husband, Kenan Demirdag, 34, at their home in the district of Bahcelievler in the north-western Turkish province of Istanbul on 2nd September 2017.
Kenan told the court that she had provoked him during the row by saying that he was not a real man and that he disgusted her.
Kenan then stabbed Alime several times from her waist and neck with a bread knife during the fight.
He left his wife Alime like that at home and went to the Bakirkoy Courthouse to surrender himself. The medical teams who went to the scene could only confirm that Alime was dead.
A criminal case was opened against Kenan. In the indictment, aggravated life imprisonment was demanded for the suspect for ‘deliberately killing his wife’.
According to the Turkish Penal Code, prisoners sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment can be paroled after serving at least 36 years, or 40 years if given more than one sentence.
But the court board decided to reject this from the prosecution and instead sentenced Kenan to life imprisonment, which is a 24-year prison sentence, by applying ‘unjust provocation discount’ for her insulting words.
The file was sent to the Supreme Court upon the objection of both the prosecution and the defence, with the defence arguing in particular that the reduction was not enough.
According to the news outlet En Son Haber, the Supreme Court agreed with the defence and have now reduced it by even more on the grounds that he was provoked, this time leaving him with a 20-year sentence.
Alime’s sister Ayse Leylek, age not disclosed, also attended the hearing at the Bakirkoy 4th High Criminal Court.
After the hearing, Ayse stated that following the objection made for Kenan to receive more penalties, less penalties were given to him and said the following: “A woman died, and her daughter was unfortunately left without a mother. Without caring about this, without hearing our voices, without listening to their conscience, they reduced the punishment. I have no words to say anymore.
“This is not just my thing. There are millions of women, millions of children who died. No one cares about the ones left behind. I want an answer to this question. What will happen to those who are left behind?
“We will appeal the decision again. I will wage this war on my behalf and on behalf of all the women, on behalf of the children left behind.”