Chief Public Prosecutor's Office appeals verdict against defendant who kicked cat Eros to death

In an incident that occurred on January 1 at a residential complex in Başakşehir, İbrahim Keloğlan caused the death of a cat named Eros by kicking it for minutes. The defendant Keloğlan had been sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison by the Küçükçekmece 16th Criminal Court of First Instance.

The sentence was reduced to 1 year and 3 months after applying a good conduct reduction, and the announcement of the verdict was deferred. In the retrial following appeals against the decision, İbrahim Keloğlan was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison for the crime of 'intentional killing of a domestic animal'. The verdict was appealed by the Küçükçekmece Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

“HE CONTINUED HIS BEHAVIOR AIMED AT KILLING”

In the petition submitted by the Küçükçekmece Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to the Küçükçekmece 16th Criminal Court of First Instance to be forwarded to the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice, it was noted that the defendant İbrahim Keloğlan kicked the cat, which was fed and cared for by the residents of the complex, inside the elevator, and that the cat fled to the hallway in a state of panic.

The petition stated that the defendant closed the hallway doors to prevent the cat from escaping and continued his behavior aimed at killing by not ceasing to kick the cat as it tried to flee from him. It was noted in the petition that while the defendant should have been sentenced to the upper limit of the prison term, a base sentence was determined in a manner inconsistent with criminal justice and public conscience.

The petition included the statement, "If a sentence at the upper limit is not given for an act committed with monstrous feelings, savagely, by inflicting torture, and under intense intent, it is incomprehensible in which more grave act or incident such a sentence would be given."

ERROR IN DETERMINING THE SENTENCE

The petition also stated that there is no doubt that the incident was extremely grave and severe, given the manner in which the defendant carried out the act with monstrous feelings and by inflicting pain under intense intent. The petition pointed out that in determining the base sentence, whether or not there was a complainant or whether the damage was compensated was not considered, and that the personality traits shown by the defendant after the incident were not counted as criteria, indicating that an error was made in determining the base sentence.

OVERTURNING OF THE VERDICT AND ARREST OF THE DEFENDANT REQUESTED

The petition, which stated that a discretionary reduction was applied to the defendant, noted that it was contrary to procedure and law to apply a reduction with insufficient justification, considering the fact that he carried out the act with monstrous feelings and by inflicting torture, the manner in which the crime was committed, the purpose he pursued, and the intensity of his intent.

It was also recorded in the petition that the defendant, who acted with a psychological motive, displayed an act of evil that is dangerous and savage in its purpose, and drew a wide reaction from social consciousness and morality, killed the cat in a merciless and cruel manner, with monstrous feelings and by inflicting torture.

The petition requested that the verdict against the defendant be overturned and that a decision be made for the defendant's arrest along with the overturning decision.