FURY AT STAB-ROW HUSBANDS RELEASE: Outrage At Bail For Man Accused of Murdering Wife Over Text Message

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Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency:  Newsflash

A Turkish court has caused outrage after it provisionally released a man on trial for stabbing his young wife to death during a row over a text message.

Sevgi Gevsek, 27, was found badly injured on the street in the district of Sakarya, in the south-eastern Turkish province of Kahramanmaras, on 17th November last year.

The young mum-of-one was taken by ambulance to Malatya Inonu University Turgut Ozal Medical Centre, where she sadly succumbed to her wounds on 23rd November.

Sevgi Gevsek, 27, (pictured) allegedly stabbed herself to death in Kahramanmaras, Turkey on 17th November 2021. (Newsflash)

Before her passing, when asked how she was injured, she replied from her hospital bed: “I stabbed myself”.

This suspicious version of events was corroborated by her husband, 28-year-old Durdu Gevsek, who said Sevgi stabbed herself following a row between the pair.

The row, according to Durdu, broke out when Sevgi saw a conversation on his phone between him and another woman.

Sevgi Gevsek, 27, (pictured) allegedly stabbed herself to death in Kahramanmaras, Turkey on 17th November 2021. (Newsflash)

The police seized a bloodstained knife from the scene and arrested Durdu, with the public prosecutor later filing charges against him.

The prosecutor requested aggravated life imprisonment for the suspect for the crime of wilfully killing his wife.

An aggravated life sentence in Turkey is what was introduced to replace the death penalty. Those given an aggravated life sentence can only be paroled after serving at least 30 years, or 36 years if given more than one sentence.

Sevgi Gevsek, 27, (pictured) allegedly stabbed herself to death in Kahramanmaras, Turkey on 17th November 2021. (Newsflash)

The nature of the three stab wounds found in Sevgi’s abdomen suggested murder, rather than suicide, according to the preliminary autopsy results.

In his first hearing at the Kahramanmaras 1st High Criminal Court last week, Durdu denied all accusations against him.

He claimed to the court: “I did not even slap my wife, I am innocent. I have been detained for four and a half months, I do not know where my child is, I am accused of killing my wife, I have not even seen my wife’s grave.

Sevgi Gevsek, 27, (pictured) allegedly stabbed herself to death in Kahramanmaras, Turkey on 17th November 2021. (Newsflash)

“People think I’m a murderer. I want my name to be cleared, I demand my release and acquittal.”

The court board adjourned the hearing after deciding to wait for the final autopsy report from the Forensic Medicine Institute.

But the court then caused controversy by releasing the defendant instead of keeping him in preventive custody until his next hearing, the date of which is not yet known.

Sevgi Gevsek, 27, who allegedly stabbed herself to death in Kahramanmaras, Turkey on 17th November 2021, was pictured with her husband Durdu Gevsek, 28, at their wedding. (Newsflash)

Femicide is a growing problem in Turkey, particularly after the country officially quit the Istanbul Convention in July last year.

According to the 2021 Annual Data Report announced by the ‘We Will Stop Femicide Platform’, 280 women were killed by men in 2021, while 217 women were found suspiciously dead.

According to data from the ‘Monument Counter’, which is “a digital memorial for women killed by violence” and is updated daily, 90 femicides have taken place in Turkey so far this year.