Prosecutor's opinion announced in the Duygu Bölükbaş case: She was found hanging from a towel radiator in her home

Duygu Bölükbaş (33), who worked as a manager at a textile company and lived in the same house as her boyfriend E.T. (28), was found dead on November 3, 2022, hanging from a towel radiator in the bathroom of her home in a luxury apartment complex in the Bornova district.

In their initial statements to the police, Bölükbaş's boyfriend E.T. and his aunt S.T. claimed that they had found the young woman dead in the bathroom.

In his statement, the young woman's boyfriend alleged that Duygu was prone to suicide, that she had entered the bathroom after an argument they had, that he asked his aunt S.T. to check on her when she did not come out, and that they subsequently found Duygu Bölükbaş's lifeless body.

The indictment prepared after the investigation stated that after an argument with Duygu Bölükbaş, E.T. injured the woman in the head with a hard object and subsequently strangled her to death with an object. As part of the investigation, a report from the Biology Department of the İzmir Forensic Medicine Branch Directorate stated that E.T.'s DNA was found in samples taken from Duygu's fingernails and on her t-shirt. Bölükbaş's family and relatives also stated in their testimonies that Bölükbaş was not someone prone to suicide.

On the other hand, records obtained from the site security guards revealed that E.T. had previously tried to enter the house with a knife in his hand. When all the evidence was evaluated together, it was determined that the incident under investigation was not a suicide but a crime of intentional murder, and a detention warrant was issued for the suspect E.T. E.T. was arrested on March 22, approximately 1.5 years after the incident.

The indictment prepared by the prosecutor's office regarding the incident emphasized that it was not possible for Bölükbaş to hang herself with a bed sheet, and that considering the wall where the towel radiator was located and the wooden bathroom counter approximately 1 meter high adjacent to this wall, there was not enough height for the victim to hang herself.

The indictment also stated that if Bölükbaş had let herself go, her toes, knees, and even her hip area would have touched the counter. The prosecutor requested an aggravated life sentence for E.T. for the crime of 'intentional murder against a woman', and up to 4 years in prison for the defendant's aunt S.T. for the crime of 'perjury'. The indictment was accepted by the İzmir 3rd High Criminal Court.

PROSECUTOR ANNOUNCED THE OPINION

The hearing held today at the İzmir 3rd High Criminal Court was attended by the detained defendant E.T. and the non-detained defendant S.T., as well as Duygu Bölükbaş's mother Nuriye Bölükbaş, father Selahattin Bölükbaş, her siblings, the family's lawyer Levent Kahya, and defense lawyers Muhammet Emre Tayyar and Bekir Sıtkı Hastürk.

At the hearing, the prosecutor read his opinion on the merits. He stated that the victim had cried out loudly at the time of the incident, saying, "Save me, he is killing me, is there no one who hears me?" It was stated that these expressions were conveyed by witnesses after the incident or were recounted by the victim herself during the construction process of the apartment where she and the defendant E.T. lived together.

According to the autopsy report, it was stated that the trauma on the victim's head occurred as a result of hitting the area where detergent boxes and shampoo were located in the bathroom. However, it was reported that DNA samples belonging to the defendant E.T. were detected under the victim's fingernails and on the bed sheet at the scene.

As a result of the crime scene reconstruction, it was clearly stated in the report that it was not possible for the victim to hang herself with the bed sheet in question. It was reported that due to the counter right below the wall where the towel radiator she was said to have been hung from is located, there was not enough height for the victim to carry out this act by herself.

Furthermore, it was determined that even if it were assumed that the victim had let herself go, her toes would have touched the ground and her hip area would have touched the counter. It was also noted that no subcutaneous bleeding was found. When the correspondence between the victim and the defendant E.T. was examined, it was also determined that the victim was trying to persuade the defendant to stop using drugs. As a result of all this evidence, the prosecution requested that the defendant be punished in accordance with the articles of the Turkish Penal Code.

DENIED THE ACCUSATIONS

Given the floor at the hearing, defendant E.T. denied the accusations. E.T. said, "I did not do such a thing. The statements in the prosecutor's opinion are completely lies and an attempt to create a perception. They are describing events that did not happen as if they did. It is clear that they are looking for a scapegoat, and they are trying to make it look like it is me. They are distorting what happened over 2.5 years. I am a person with a conscience and I am standing tall. I am someone who was caught with drugs at the age of 16; I cannot hide anything from God that is in my past, nor can I hide it from people. Everything is clearly explained in the 10-page document I submitted to the court. The truth cannot be covered up. No matter what the media or others do, no one can change what happened."

In the opinion, which lasted about 1 hour, the prosecutor requested punishment for the detained defendant for the crime of 'intentional murder against a woman' and for S.T. for the crime of 'perjury'.

Accepting the lawyers' request for time, the court panel decided to continue the detention of the defendant E.T. and adjourned the hearing to May 30.