Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: Joe Golder, Agency: Newsflash
A Turkish man who did not have a licence to drive a lorry loaded with building supplies when it rolled backwards and crushed this young woman to death has said he wished it had killed him.
Ilhami Bekiroglu, 36, said the company that employed him to drive the lorry had not asked to see his licence, and that he did not have a licence for lorries when the accident happened on his second day at work.
University student Eda Muduroglu, 20, who was visiting her grandfather, had been killed instantly in the collision after he had parked on a steep road while he loaded up with builder supplies.
The heavy load, that included sand and cement, had then rolled backwards in the incident that happened in Osmangazi district of Bursa province which is located in North Western Turkey on 30th August.
It struck an electricity pole knocking it over and also hit the young woman, crushing her to death and killing her instantly.
He told local media: “I wake up and cry at night, I wish I was dead.”
“I wish I had died instead of Eda. I can’t stop crying.”
Stuck between the wall and the van, Eda died at the accident site. Driver Bekiroglu then went to the police station and turned himself in, after which he was arrested and placed in preventative custody.
The initial court hearing saw him charged with causing death by negligence in the Bursa 23rd Criminal Court of First Instance, where he could face anything between two and 15 years in prison.
Bekiroglu attended the hearing via video conference from the prison, while Eda’s father Bertan Muduroglu was present at the courtroom.
Speaking about the day the young woman died, Bekiroglu said: “I started working as a driver. It was only my second day. The truck was very loaded, with sand and cement in it, I told the person on duty at the construction site that I was worried.
“However, the officer said to me, “Nothing will happen.” I destroyed both my own family, that girl, and that girl’s family. I wake up at night and cry all the time. I wish I had died instead of Eda. “
He said that he has an E class driver’s licence that does qualify him to drive buses, trucks, vans and cars, but that the company had also wanted an SCR that is a mandatory document for commercial vehicle drivers engaged in freight and passenger transportation. However, this was a licence that he did not have.
The court board decided to continue the detention of Bekiroglu and to call the witnesses from the accident site to get further information.
The trial was adjourned for arrangements for this to be made.
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