Verdict in the Ata Emre Akman murder case: Defendant sentenced to 24 years in prison

Ata Emre Akman, a 20-year-old student at Balıkesir University's Faculty of Tourism, Department of Tourism Guidance, had gone to Emir Street in the Karaoğlan neighborhood of Karesi district on May 11 to deliver a pizza ordered from the company where he had started working as a delivery driver five days earlier.

After delivering the pizza, Akman was walking toward his motorcycle parked on the street when Erdoğan Özdemir approached and attacked the university student with a knife. Akman lost his life at the scene, and Erdoğan Özdemir, who fled, was arrested by a judge after being apprehended by the police.

FATHER ACQUITTED

The 17-year-old defendant, Erdoğan Özdemir, was initially sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment. However, taking the defendant's age into account, the sentence was reduced to 24 years. The father, Orhan Özdemir, who was accused of incitement, was acquitted.

The public prosecutor had requested that both the defendant and his father be sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment, but the attacker was being tried for up to 24 years in prison because he was under 18.

Aggravated life imprisonment was requested for the father, who was alleged to have incited the murder.

In the indictment prepared by the prosecutor's office and submitted to the Balıkesir 3rd High Criminal Court, it was requested that the murder suspect, Erdoğan Özdemir, be sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for the crime of premeditated murder with monstrous intent or by causing torment. 

Because the suspect was under 18 years of age, the indictment requested the application of the article stating: 'For individuals who have completed the age of 15 but have not completed the age of 18 at the time of the act, if the crime requires an aggravated life sentence, a prison sentence of 14 to 20 years shall be imposed; if it requires a life sentence, a prison sentence of 9 to 12 years shall be imposed.' 

The indictment stated that after committing the act, the suspect fled to his home near the scene and was apprehended while putting his blood-stained clothes into the washing machine, noting that his father, Orhan Özdemir, who was alleged to have incited E.Ö., was also taken into custody.

In his statement included in the indictment, Erdoğan Özdemir explained that there was a feud between his father and his father's former common-law wife, S.D., and that he had been drinking alcohol on the day of the incident and went home late with his father.

Claiming that after his father fell asleep, he thought about the problems he had with the woman and went outside taking a knife from the table, E.Ö. stated that he encountered the victim, Akman, in front of the house, asked him some questions, and stabbed the young man because he rebuffed him.

SEPARATE INDICTMENT PREPARED FOR THE FATHER

The investigation into Orhan Ö., the father of E.Ö., who was arrested on charges of incitement, has also been completed.

In the separate indictment prepared and submitted to the court, it was stated that Orhan Ö. had continuously harassed his common-law wife after their separation, and that the suspect had been released on leave on May 2 from the Buca Open Penal Institution, where he was serving a sentence for another crime.

“I RAISED A BOY LIKE A BULLET”

The indictment noted that Orhan Ö. went to the home of witness K.Ş. on May 4 and made remarks to S.D., whom he encountered there, threatening to harm her or the people in her house. It was recorded that the suspect then said to the people there, “I will not harm any of those in the house, but something will happen to someone in front of that house. I don't care who it is; it won't be me, it will be my son or my father. I raised a boy like a bullet.”

"I WILL HAVE YOU KILLED BY EITHER MY FATHER OR MY SON"

The indictment stated that the suspect called S.D. on May 7 and said, "I will have you killed by either my father or my son." Following these events, E.Ö. went to the front of the residence where S.D. lived in the Karaoğlan neighborhood at approximately 01:48, and upon seeing the victim, Ata Emre Akman, who had arrived to deliver an order, enter the apartment building, he hid behind a car for a short time.

It was reported that when the victim left the apartment a short while later, E.Ö. approached Akman with a knife in his hand, and after speaking with the victim briefly, he killed him by inflicting multiple stab wounds to his vital areas with monstrous intent.

The public prosecutor requested that Orhan Ö. be sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for the crime of inciting murder with premeditation and monstrous intent or by causing torment, and that his sentence be increased due to the incitement of the crime by using influence stemming from a lineal descendant relationship.