Teen tortured, buried alive by girlfriend's family in Turkey

DENİZLİ – Doğan News Agency

AA Photo

A teenager has been tortured and buried alive by his lover’s family, in a new “honor killing” incident in a western province of Turkey, according to a confession given to police by the father and brother involved.

The father and brother of the victim’s lover were detained in the Denizli province on Nov. 16, after they confessed to torturing and burying their daughter/sibling’s lover for reasons of “honor.”

Onur Sandal, 16, who was a qualified electrician and plumber, was found buried in a forest by Denizli forest officials after Sandal’s family reported their son missing on Nov. 13. Sandal’s body appeared to have been wounded by cutlery prior to its burial.

Police detained A.T., the 18-year-old brother of Sandal’s lover, upon watching footage from a surveillance camera that showed A.T. beating up Sandal and placing him in a car. The brother’s three friends, 17-year-old S.Ö. and 18-year-olds H.H.B. and M.T., who were present in the car, and the brother’s father, 46-year-old A.T., have also been detained.

The father and brother confessed while under interrogation at the police station that they had kidnapped Sandal together, but said the brother’s three friends did not know about the murder.

The brother said he and his father tortured Sandal together by stabbing him with a knife and another piece of cutlery 65 times before burying him alive because Sandal would not agree to marry his sister, with whom Sandal claimed to have had sexual intercourse.

The first examination of Sandal’s body revealed that he had been wounded 65 times with a knife and then buried alive, which caused his lungs to fill with dirt. 

A statement by the father confirms the results of the examination. He also said they had first stabbed Sandal with a knife and then tortured him by cutting various parts of his body 65 times, before burying him alive.

According to the father’s testimony, Sandal was struggling for his life while being buried alive and said, “I am dying, my mother should give her blessings, I made her suffer a lot of things.”

“It is a matter of honor and I regret it. We did not mean to be like this,” said the father.

While the father and brother were detained, the son’s three friends were released by the court pending trial.