* Source: Anadolu Agency (AA)
Click to read the article in Turkish
Put on trial for battering his student in Aksaray's Ortaköy, a former math teacher has been sentenced to 10 months in prison.
The final hearing of the case held at the Ortaköy Criminal Court of First Instance was attended by defendant Ali Rıza Y., who was free pending trial, and his lawyers. Asked for his statement, defendant Y. said that he regretted having inflicted violence on his student S.T.K.
'I slapped one more time for the other teacher'
Speaking at court, defendant Ali Rıza Y. said that he apologized to both the student and the family after the incident:
"I never swore in my life. And I never smoked at school. My teacher cast aspersions on me. And a parent called our school principal and complained about these matters. Our principal and I talked about these matters two weeks before the incident. And I took my student outside the classroom to the corridor and asked about the situation. I gave a long talk. I asked why he said something like that, I gave the necessary advice.
"However, on the day of the incident, another teacher told me that the student was talking about me again. I directly took him outside the classroom and slapped him. But as he cried out a lot, I slapped him a few times more, thinking that he might be playing a trick on me again.
"There is also footage of this. A teacher came to me, said something and I slapped him one more time for the teacher."
The lawyer of the defendant said that Y. should be acquitted and requested the deferment of the pronouncement of the verdict if he is not acquitted. The student's lawyer asked for penalization at the upper limit.
Before handing down the verdict, the presiding judge addressed the defendant and said, "You are an educator. No matter what he says, it is unacceptable that you hit, even beat him. Nothing gives you the right to beat him up." The defendant was first given 12 months in prison at the upper limit; this sentence has been reduced to 10 months due to "good conduct" and the pronouncement of the verdict has been deferred.
What happened?
At a secondary school in Turkey's Central Anatolian Aksaray province, math teacher Ali Rıza Y. slapped and smacked his student and jumped on his throat after taking him to the corridor. Hearing the noise, a teacher from another classroom intervened in the incident while another teacher also saw the incident, but did not intervene and went back to the classroom.
The incident was captured by the school's security camera. The father said that his son was given a 10-day disability report as a result of the violence he had been subjected to. The father announced that they filed a criminal complaint against the teacher. After the video footage of the incident was widely shared on social media, it caused a huge public outrage.
According to a statement released by the Governor's Office of Aksaray about the incident that happened on December 14, the teacher was expelled from the school. Another statement released by the Aksaray Chief Public Prosecutor's Office indicated that the suspect was taken into custody and he was released on probation by the criminal judgeship of peace.
Defendant Ali Rıza Y. was indicted for "actual bodily harm on a person who is not in a physical and mental state to defend oneself by a public officer with undue influence." The indictment demanded that Y. be penalized for the charged offense at the upper limit. (AÖ/SD)
