A heartless husband who threw his pregnant wife off a cliff to cash in on a life insurance policy he had taken out in her name has lost an appeal after trying to claim he was mentally ill.
During the original trial, judges saw shocking footage of Hakan Aysal, 40, almost dragging the reluctant woman to the clifftop.
Later, he also showed little remorse as he travelled the country after her death, enjoying a VIP lifestyle and staying at top hotels.
He denied the charges, but was still convicted of the premeditated murder of his seven-month-pregnant wife Semra Aysal, 32.
The ruling was made by the Fethiye 1st High Criminal Court in Mugla Province in February last year.
After realising he had little chance of appealing the conviction on the facts, he changed tactics and, instead, appealed on grounds that he was suffering from a mental illness.
The Fethiye court reconsidered the case and rejected it in October last year after considering expert opinion, which showed he knew what he was doing.
Now, the Izmir Regional Court of Justice in Izmir Province has also rejected his appeal, confirming that he did possess criminal responsibility.
It has ordered him to serve his full sentence of aggravated life imprisonment.
In Turkey, defendants sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment are only eligible for parole after serving a minimum of 30 years behind bars.
The shocking murder took place on 19th June 2018 when victim Semra Aysal died after falling from a height of about 300 metres (984 feet).
She was taking photos from a lookout point over Butterfly Valley in Fethiye District, Mugla Province, at the time.
Aysal was arrested on suspicion of murder in November 2020 after it emerged that he had tried to cash out TRY 400,000 (GBP 17,600) from a life insurance policy.
The only beneficiary of the policy was Aysal.
Police started their investigation after Semra’s family complained that Aysal had been posting pictures of his new life travelling the world.
That had jogged the memory of another tourist who had unknowingly filmed the couple as Aysal was forcing his pregnant wife to the clifftop vantage point.
Recep Sahin, who filmed Semra’s last moments, took the stand at a previous hearing, telling the court: “I stopped there to see the view of Kabak Bay with my family.
“My daughter was filming the view with my phone, and the Aysal couple came down the slope at that moment.
“We even joked, ‘Either this man will throw the woman off or the woman will throw the man.'”
The victim’s brother, Naim Yolcu, told the Fethiye court in February 2021: “When we went to the Institute of Forensic Medicine to get the body, Hakan was sitting in the car.
“My family and I were destroyed, but Hakan did not even appear sad.”
Aysal has 15 days to decide if he wants to appeal the decision to Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals.
