Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
The judge who sentenced a man who pushed his pregnant wife off a cliff at a beauty spot has revealed he kept her waiting there for three hours, despite the fact she was scared of heights, so other people would leave so he could out the heartless murder.
The President of the Court, Abdulkadir Ungan, gave a written ruling adding extra detail about the reason for the verdict after it was revealed that Hakan Aysal, 41, planned to appeal it and was taking legal action against people on social media who made insulting comments about him.
The Fethiye High Criminal Court sentenced Hakan to aggravated life imprisonment on a majority after he was found guilty of ‘deliberately killing a pregnant spouse’, meaning he will only be eligible for parole after serving 30 years.
The criminal court determined that he had forced his wife Semra Aysal, 32, who was seven months pregnant and afraid of heights, to go to a clifftop in Butterfly Valley in the district of Fethiye in the south-eastern Turkish province of Mugla, where he then pushed her to her death.
But in his written confirmation of the sentence, the judge revealed that once at the edge of the cliff, he had made the complaining woman wait for three hours until it was all clear before then pushing her off the edge.
He then used the cash from loans and insurance premiums he had taken out before her death in her name to fund a life of luxury.
But despite being jailed, he is hoping to have the verdict overturned on appeal and is already planning for his release by trying to rake in a raft of cash with legal cases against his critics.
According to Turkish media, the convicted murderer is after TRY 5,000 (GBP 259) for every person who has allegedly insulted him on social media.
One of his targets is 39-year-old Talha Y. from the southwest-central Turkish province of Konya, who wrote on his own Facebook page: “It is necessary to kill these people slowly, by torturing them every day. A life sentence is not enough for this bastard.”
After receiving notice of legal action against him, he made a statement saying: “I did not make the comment in question to Hakan Aysal. Otherwise, I would have written on Hakan Aysal’s own account. I wrote it in response to the increasing number of femicides lately.”
Turkish media reported that after refusing to pay the amount in damages requested by the mediator, criminal proceedings were initiated against him. It is not clear if he has already gone on trial.
It is unclear how many people have settled with the convicted killer rather than face the ordeal of a trial.
Unusually, Hakan’s conviction was on a majority verdict, with the President of the Court not in favour of the conviction.
