Turkish man who sexually abused underage girls jailed for 10 years, not initial 150 years

DİYARBAKIR – Doğan News Agency

A Turkish court has sentenced a man, who initially faced a total of 150 years in prison for drugging and sexually abusing two 14-year-old girls and one 15-year-old girl after faking his ID, to 10 years in jail due to his "respectable attitude" at the hearings. 

The southeastern province of Diyarbakır’s 6th Court of Serious Crimes first sentenced the 42-year-old man, identified only by the initials U.Ç., to 12 years in prison for committing the “the sexual harassment of a minor” and “depriving a minor of their freedom with a sexual aim.” Even though the 12 years in prison was the lower limit for such crimes, the court reduced the man’s punishment to 10 years on the grounds of his respectable behavior at the hearings. 

The court acquitted him of charges of “providing drugs” and performing sexual acts with a third girl.

He was also sentenced to a total of 15 months in prison and a four-day punitive fine for “indecency” toward all the three victims, but the punishment was suspended on the grounds that the court ruled that the suspect would not commit the crimes again. 

The three girls told their schoolteacher in 2014 that U.Ç. had taken them to his house to “teach English” before plying them with alcohol and marijuana, forcing them to watch porn and then sexually abusing them. He reportedly told the girls that he was a military officer, also possessing an officer uniform, a gun and bullets, in order to increase his credibility. 

After an investigation U.Ç. was charged with “sexual harassment of a minor,” “depriving a person of their freedom,” “providing drugs,” “possessing a firearm and bullets,” and “making minors watch obscene publications.” These charges carried a total jail term of 150 years. 

He had been released from jail pending trial after seven months on the grounds that long arrests were against the European Convention on Human Rights.

The man was also sentenced to 25 days of jail time and a four-day punitive fine for possessing bullets at home, but this punishment was converted into a 500-Turkish Lira fine and then once again suspended. 

In the final hearing of the case, the prosecutor had demanded U.Ç.’s acquittal on charges of drugging the girls and depriving them of their freedom, claiming they had given their consent. The prosecutor also claimed that the 15-year-old girl had given her consent, but admitted that U.Ç.’s acts against the other two girls amounted to sexual assault. He therefore demanded between 3.5 and 10 years of prison time, rather than the 150 years demanded in the initial indictment.