Father sentenced to prison over his son’s shooting of school principal

* Source: Anadolu Agency (AA)

Click to read the article in Turkish

The heavy penal court has ruled that the father of one of the children who shot a high school principal in Ödemiş, İzmir to death shall be sentenced to 20 years, 4 months in prison for "aiding the murder."

Making efforts for wide-scale personal disarmament in Turkey, Umut (Hope) Foundation has long been warning adults that the firearms left within the reach of children lead to irrecoverable sorrows.

The final hearing of the trial over the killing of a high-school principal with a pump rifle was held at the Ödemiş 1st Heavy Penal Court today.

Arrested pending trial, defendants U.Y., his father Birol Y. and İ.P. attended the hearing via the Audio and Visual Information System (SEGBİS) while Ümmü Kökmen, the wife of the late school principal, and the attorneys of the parties were present in the courtroom.

Defining them as "children pushed into crime", the court board has ruled that U.Y. shall be sentenced to 23 years, 1 month and 10 days in prison and İ.P. shall be sentenced to 22 years in prison. Standing trial on charge of "aiding the murder", U.Y.'s father Birol Y., who also owned the murder weapon, has been sentenced to 20 years, 4 months in prison.

Giving no good conduct abatement to the defendants, the court has ruled that C.A. and Y.O. shall be acquitted of the offense(s) charged.

'He should have been penalized for instigating'

Süleyman Coşkun, the attorney of the Kökmen family, has stated that Birol Y. should have been penalized for "instigating the murder" rather than "aiding the murder". The attorney has announced that they will appeal against both this verdict and the acquittal of C.A.

Ümmü Kökmen has also indicated that she does not find the sentences deterrent: "I have come here for three years. The judge and attorneys addressed the children as the 'children pushed into crime', which means that there are some persons who pushed these children into crime.

"That being the case, I would want the person who pushed them into crime to be punished as severely as possible."

What happened?

In an Anatolian High School in Ödemiş in İzmir, U.Y. and İ.P., two 11-grade students who were previously sent to the disciplinary board on the grounds that they had pulled a gun on a student, entered the room of the school principal and opened fire on him with a pump rifle on December 15, 2017. Wounded in the shooting, the principal lost his life at the hospital.

Based on the indictment lodged by the Ödemiz Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, four children and U.Y.'s father Birol Y., who was put on trial for instigating the murder, faced aggravated life imprisonment.

Warning to parents

Umut (Hope) Foundation has long been warning that the firearms left within the reach of children lead to irrecoverable sorrows. In a recent statement, the Umut Foundation has protested that "the firearms easily accessible by children at homes either kill them or make them murderers unintentionally." (AÖ/SD)