Defendant who abducted 12-year-old girl sentenced to prison

On 2 February 2025, in the Peyas neighbourhood of Kayapınar district in Diyarbakır, a 12-year-old girl left her home and disappeared. After the child's family filed a missing persons report and she could not be found alongside 29-year-old Z.Ş. — whom she had met through social media approximately two years earlier — police launched a search.

Shortly afterwards, Z.Ş. and the girl, having seen the missing-person posts circulating on social media, turned themselves in to the Child Branch Directorate on 6 February. Z.Ş. was remanded in custody by the court and sent to prison.

Reports entered into the case file at the first hearing indicated that the victim child's bone age was 16; however, it was established that her age was recorded as 12 in official records. According to message logs in the file, it emerged that the victim had told the defendant she would turn 18 in five months and that they had made plans to run away together.

In her statement, the girl said she had been in contact with Z.Ş. for approximately two years, that she had asked him to take her away, that they had stayed in parks for four days, and that she had no complaint during that period. The defendant, for his part, stated that the victim had told him she was 16 years old and had even given differing accounts of her age at a later point; he attributed their reason for running away together to a desire to marry.

At the sentencing hearing, the public prosecutor reiterated the opinion he had previously submitted, stating that the victim was under 15 years of age at the time of the incident and that her consent could therefore not be considered valid. The prosecutor requested that the defendant be convicted of "sexual abuse of a child" and "unlawful deprivation of liberty." It was also established that Z.Ş. had been with the girl throughout the period she was reported missing.

COURT RECLASSIFIED THE NATURE OF THE OFFENCE IN ITS RULING

The court panel concluded that the defendant had not known the victim's true age. The ruling noted — pointing to Z.Ş.'s defence that he believed the victim to be 17 years old and to other evidence in the file — that it had not been established beyond doubt, from the defendant's perspective, that the victim was under 15. On that basis, the defendant was acquitted of the charge of "unlawful deprivation of liberty."

On the other hand, the court ruled that Z.Ş.'s acts constituted the offence of "sexual intercourse with a minor" under Article 104 of the Turkish Penal Code. The defendant was initially sentenced to 3 years in prison; this was increased to 3 years and 9 months on the grounds that the act had occurred on more than one occasion. After a discretionary reduction was applied, the final sentence was announced as 3 years, 1 month, and 15 days.