Killer of heroic Turkish-German woman sentenced to 3 years

FRANKFURT

A man who fatally beat a German student of Turkish origin while she was trying to protect two women from harassment has been sentenced to three years in jail, Turkish media has reported.

Tuğçe Albayrak, 22, died in hospital on Nov. 28, 2014, after languishing in a coma for around two weeks following an altercation with three men of Serbian descent that she tried to stop from sexually harassing two German girls in the parking lot of a restaurant in Offenbach, a town near Frankfurt.

The Darmstadt State Court sentenced the 18-year-old main suspect, Sanel M., to three years in prison on June 16, according to Doğan News Agency. The prosecutor had sought a three-year, three-month sentence in the case that started on April 25 and ended after 10 hearings.

Albayrak’s attempt to protect the girls triggered an outpouring of public sympathy in Germany, causing thousands, including German leaders, to pay their respects to the late woman on the streets and in social media.