Water seller who abused children in soundproofed room faces judge

An interim ruling has been announced in the trial of Metin Şenay, who is being prosecuted with a demand for up to 331 years and 6 months in prison for sexually abusing 4 children in Bağcılar between 2019 and 2023.

The hearing at Bakırköy 24th Heavy Criminal Court was held behind closed doors by decision of the court panel.

Spectators and members of the press were not admitted to the hearing, and some lawyers also drew up a record because they were not allowed into the courtroom. The detained defendant Metin Şenay, who was connected to the hearing via the SEGBİS system from a prison in Diyarbakır where he had been transferred for security reasons, was delivering his defence when the complainant mother — whose daughters had been sexually abused — suffered a nervous breakdown. The mother was readmitted to the courtroom after she had calmed down. The defendant Şenay, who delivered his defence at the hearing, accepted the charges and presented his defence in a composed manner. After one of the abuse victims was heard in the Forensic Observation Room, the public prosecutor announced his opinion. In his opinion, the public prosecutor demanded that defendant Şenay be punished.

After the opinion was announced, the court panel announced its interim ruling and decided that the defendant should remain in detention. The hearing was adjourned to allow the defendant to present his defence against the opinion.

FROM THE INDICTMENT

In the indictment prepared by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the date of the offence was stated as prior to 2023, and the indictment included 4 victims and 5 complainants. The indictment stated that defendant Metin Şenay had a water shop in Bağcılar and had been delivering water in the same neighbourhood and district for many years. The indictment recorded that on 24 May 2023, the family of one of the victims, M.Y., reported to police after the child left school and did not return home.

The indictment stated that police first reviewed the school's camera footage and surrounding cameras, and determined that the victim had boarded a minibus after leaving the school grounds. The indictment noted that the family watched the camera footage on the same day and identified the vehicle as belonging to a business called "Metin Su" that had previously delivered water to their home.

The indictment recorded that after the family stated that the person driving the vehicle was someone named Metin Şenay, it was assessed that the child might be at Metin Şenay's workplace and a search of the area was conducted. The indictment explained that when Şenay was observed leaving his workplace at around 3:00 a.m. and displaying nervous behaviour, law enforcement officers intervened and the defendant fled back inside the workplace.

"I WILL HURT YOU VERY MUCH AND BEAT YOU VERY HARD"

The indictment explained that police officers followed Metin Şenay and began asking questions about the child; the defendant did not answer any questions, and when a child's screaming was heard from behind the workplace, officers proceeded to the area described as a "bedroom."

The indictment stated that in a hidden room, the victim girl was found locked inside and in tears, and that it was understood she had been sexually abused when bloodstains were seen in the hidden section and on the victim.

The indictment also noted that a note was found stuck to the wall of the hidden room, reading: "You will absolutely obey. Absolutely do not shout. Speak in a whisper when talking. Do not damage anything around you. If someone comes to the shop, absolutely do not speak. Do whatever I say. If you do not obey me, I will hurt you very much and beat you very hard, and if necessary I will kill you. In my opinion, the best thing is for you to obey me and do what I say, and I will take the best care of you."

"IF YOU SCREAM I WILL KILL YOU"

In her statement taken at the Child Monitoring Centre, victim M.Y. said that Metin, who had been delivering water to their home for 10 years, had called her over and said "Let me take you home," that Metin had taken her home before and had never done anything to her before, and that on that day she had not noticed they were not going home while they were on the road.

The victim recounted that when they arrived at the workplace and got out of the car, the defendant said "You go in and play on the computer," that she went inside and there was a large room with a computer, and that after she had played on the computer for a while, Metin said "I'll show you a place" and took her to a small room.

Victim M.Y. described that the room was covered with foam, had no windows, glass, or furniture, and that Metin left a container saying "If you need the toilet, use this container." She said she vomited there, that Metin abused her, that he said "If you scream I will kill you," that he picked up a knife to frighten her, that towards evening he took her to the kitchen and said "Eat something," that she did not eat and vomited, and that she felt cold and had a stomachache.

"YOU WILL STAY IN A CHILDREN'S HOME FOR TEN YEARS"

The victim child disclosed that defendant Metin Şenay had made her watch videos of children being beaten in a children's home and had said: "They will beat you like this, you won't be able to see your mother. If you scream they will hear us here, they will see us. I will go to prison for ten years and you will stay in a children's home for ten years."

The victim also stated that police arrived while she was asleep. It was recorded that DNA profiles determined to belong to Metin Şenay were found during the medical examination of victim M.Y. Furthermore, in a subsequent statement taken at the Child Monitoring Centre, victim M.Y. stated that she had seen Metin Şenay recording a video while abusing her.

"I SEXUALLY ABUSED HER"

It was recorded that in his defence taken in the presence of his lawyer regarding victim M.Y., Metin Şenay accepted the charges against him. In his defence, defendant Şenay said: "After locking the door of the workplace, I took her to the soundproofed room. I covered her with a blanket. First I kissed her on the cheek, then I sexually abused her. I did not sexually abuse any other child."

HE STORED PHOTOGRAPHS OF CHILDREN

Meanwhile, an expert report was prepared following an examination of the digital materials seized at the defendant's workplace. The report identified internet searches, videos, and photographs assessed to constitute child pornography. The report also stated that obscene photographs of children, assessed to be of children the defendant had abused, were found stored digitally.

The report also stated that defendant Şenay was clearly visible in some of the photographs. The indictment noted that children identified from the photographs, who were assessed to have been subjected to abuse, had written their names while spending time at the workplace.

The indictment stated that among the children whose names were written at the workplace, E.N.Ö. and M.Ö. were relatives of the defendant's wife. The indictment conveyed that when the obscene child photographs obtained through digital examination were found to resemble past photographs shared by the victims on social media, it was assessed that the sibling victims had been abused by the defendant. The indictment also assessed that victim R.Ş. had been abused because her name was also written at the workplace.

"FIRST I WILL SHOOT YOU IN THE HEAD"

In her statement, victim R.Ş. said: "When I learned about what happened to Metin Şenay from the newspapers, I shut myself in at home. I learned about this incident 6–7 months ago; my mother had also told me about the situation. My mother had asked me, 'Did Metin do anything to you?'

I couldn't say anything out of fear. Metin Şenay had opened a water shop in our neighbourhood. I used to be home alone. My older sister went to school, my mother and father were not at home, and my older brother was out and about. Metin Şenay used to tell me 'I will protect you, nothing will happen to you.' He would want me to come to him. If I didn't go, he would get angry at me and act strangely towards me.

He was threatening me. He would say 'If you tell anyone, you'll be sent to a children's home and I'll go to prison.' He would say 'No man can enter your life.' He told me 'First I will shoot you in the head, then I will shoot myself in the head and we will leave this life together.' I don't know Metin Şenay's exact age.

He kept calling me to him, saying 'I have no daughters, I have two sons but they are useless.' Because of my family's difficulties, I was always alone. The first time he sexually abused me I was 5 years old. The last incident happened when I was in ninth grade. Inside the shop there was a desk, a computer, and an armchair. In the first incident he said 'Close your eyes, don't be afraid.' The shop had tinted film on the windows. You couldn't see inside from outside. In that first incident I went to him because I was afraid of him."

"HE WAS RECORDING VIDEO"

The victim also stated in her testimony included in the indictment that she had been subjected to sexual abuse by Metin Şenay many times over different periods. The victim said she was filing a complaint against Metin Şenay for what had happened, adding: "I didn't tell my mother about these incidents because I thought she wouldn't believe me. He kept saying threatening things to me. He was warning me. There was a weapon in Metin's shop. There was another small room behind the back room. He would say to me 'Who's calling you, no one can enter your life — otherwise I'll shoot you in the head.'

He would say 'You cannot be with anyone other than me.' In the bedroom there was a camera attached to a laptop. There was also a camera outside the bedroom. He said he was recording video with both the inside and outside cameras.

He also recorded video when he sexually abused me inside. He made me watch one of my videos. Even though I said 'I don't want to watch the video,' he made me watch it. When I said I didn't want to watch, he would say 'These are your videos, watch them, nothing will happen.' The last incident happened before my stroke. I don't remember the exact date. I remember I was 15 years old and in ninth grade. The year I was hospitalised was 2021. After I was hospitalised, Metin did not touch me again. He also hasn't called me in the past year."

"WHAT METIN ŞENAY DID TO ME IS TORTURE"

Another victim, E.N.Ö., stated in her testimony taken at the Child Monitoring Centre: "Metin Şenay is a relative of mine. He used to live in the flat below ours. The first incident happened when I was in fourth grade. We liked him. We went to Metin Şenay's place for about 2–3 years. The incidents always happened at the shop where Metin sold water. He was a water seller. He would bring and deliver water. We would be left alone in the shop; he would put films on for us from the computer. He sexually abused me.

The next day I went with my sibling named M. In the first incident, M. was also with me. He sexually abused her on the second day too. After my turn was over, he would start with M. These incidents happened on the same day. In the second incident I remember, there was him, me, and my sibling. We used to bring clothes there. We went to Metin Şenay's shop for a total of about 2–3 years. When I was 12–13 years old, my family started cutting off our contact with Metin Şenay.

He threatened us the same way he did to the child in the news. He would say 'Anyone who talks should die'; we were playing a game and he would say 'If you don't do what I say I'll kill you.' We were scared too. The shop has three sections. In the living room there is a television and a camera; at the back he had a room built — I didn't understand what it was. There are places like a storage area; he had a partition built. He had this built so that people outside couldn't see us. This area had two doors, one at the front and one at the back. He had a computer in this shop; I was bored at home and we used to go to the water shop to play on the computer. Later my mother started not giving us permission and didn't want us to go.

Even knowing he was abusing us, we would go to him to play on the computer and we would defy our parents. As time went on I understood we were doing wrong and I was very afraid it would come out. Metin would say 'You also try to keep it secret, don't let your parents notice anything.' Then we heard that police had taken him. We heard in the news that he had done it to another child, and my sibling and I thought about whether to say what he had done to us too.

We thought our images and videos were on his computer and wondered whether those would come out too. We thought he might have deleted the videos, but he hadn't deleted them. Metin Şenay was constantly recording video while doing these things to us. He was backing up these videos in a folder on his computer. This computer was in the water shop. I am filing a complaint against Metin Şenay for doing these things to me. He had told us 'If everyone finds out about this incident, I swear I will shoot everyone' — 'If my downstairs neighbours find out, I will shoot you.' He did to that little girl the same torture he did to us. What Metin Şenay did is torture in my view."

"LET THIS NOT COME OUT, OTHERWISE I WILL KILL MYSELF"

M.Ö., the sibling of victim E.N.Ö., stated in her testimony taken at the Child Monitoring Centre: "When I was in fourth grade we used to go to his shop. Metin behaved well in front of our family, but when we were alone he would say 'Don't socialise with boys, if you do I will curse you.' He would say 'My curses will be answered.' He would say 'Let this incident not come out, otherwise I will kill myself.' I remember one incident as the reason I went there; I don't remember any other incident. My older sister, Metin Şenay, and I were staying at the shop together.

He sexually abused us and recorded it on video. As time went on he threatened us, saying 'Never socialise with boys — if you do, I will kill you.' One night he woke me up and abused me that night. I couldn't sleep; we were supposed to go home that day. Then we went home and never went to the shop again. We used to stay a lot during the summer holidays — about 2–3 weeks without a break. We stayed less during the winter holidays. He stored the recorded videos in something like a black box. He would make us watch these videos. We told him to delete the videos, and he said 'I won't delete them — I watch them when I miss you.'

The indictment also explained that since it was assessed that victims M.Ö. and E.N.Ö. spending long days and weeks at the place referred to as the water shop had left them vulnerable to abuse, it was decided during the course of the investigation to place them in an age-appropriate residential facility. The indictment also stated that Metin Şenay had previously been tried and convicted — having been held in pre-trial detention between 2009 and 2011 — on the grounds that he had sexually abused another girl, but that he was acquitted following a Court of Cassation reversal ruling.

Within the scope of the prepared indictment, it was demanded that Metin Şenay be sentenced to a total of between 128 years and 9 months and 331 years and 6 months in prison — separately for each victim — on charges of "depriving a child of liberty for sexual purposes using force, threat, or deception in a chain of offences," "aggravated sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12 in a chain of offences," "using children in the production of obscene publications," and "depriving a child of liberty for sexual purposes using force, threat, or deception with a weapon" against 4 victims.

News Source: İHA

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