A pregnant woman in Istanbul is accused of encouraging a man to stab her in the street to ‘get rid of’ her unwanted baby

ISTANBUL

A pregnant woman in Istanbul has been accused of encouraging a man to stab her in the middle of the street in order to kill her unwanted baby, daily Milliyet reported on Feb. 10.

The suspect, a 22-year-old woman identified only as Z.Y., was stabbed in the stomach in a street in the central neighborhood of Beyoğlu on Feb. 5. The woman, whose baby is now in critical condition, told police in the hospital that a man approached her in the street and stabbed her after she declined to give him a cigarette.

Doubtful of the testimony, the police scanned security cameras and identified the man, who was seen walking with the Z.Y. before the incident took place. The man, a 25-year-old identified by the initials H.T., later said in his testimony that he had stabbed the woman because she had “forced him to.”

“She told me that she was pregnant from her ex-husband and proposed to marry me if we could get rid of this baby together,” H.T. reportedly said, adding that he had an affair with the woman in the past. 

“I asked how we could do it and she wanted me to stab her in the stomach. I declined and suggested a medical operation instead, but she convinced me. I tried several times and couldn’t manage it. Then she yelled at me, pushed her body into the knife in my hand and told me to leave the scene,” the man added.

The police investigation into the incident is ongoing.