Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
A Turkish musician who murdered his estranged wife and sister-in-law has been jailed for life after initially trying to blame the shooting on the victims’ mother and brother.
Emre Guvener, 35, was convicted of killing his wife Zerrin Demir Guvener, 22, and sister-in-law Betul Demir, 28, in the district of Kagithane in the north-western Turkish city of Istanbul on 14th September 2017.
The Istanbul 5th High Criminal Court heard evidence by video link up. The couple had been married for only 18 months when she announced she wanted a divorce, and had been separated from him for six months.
After he was arrested, he tried to claim that his wife had been having an affair in order to provide some justification for going to the house to confront her.
Later, the defence reportedly claimed that the mother and brother of the two victims carried out the killing just after he arrived.
They said the family members cleaned any signs of gunpowder in the house and wiped the footprints to hide the crime.
Urging the court to accept that he was innocent, the defendant said in conclusion: “I take refuge in justice.”
However, the account was rejected by the court which concluded that Guvener forced his way into his mother-in-law’s home and shot the two women dead before turning the gun on himself.
Prosecutor Kadir Nazmi Yelkenci, who presented reports showing that the killer was of sound mind, described how he forced his way into the home and started to argue with his wife, and that a short while later the mother heard three gunshots.
After killing the two women, he then turned the gun on himself but survived the gunshot.
The defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment for the deliberate murder of his wife, and 25 years in prison for murdering his sister-in-law.
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