Defendants who buried Çiğdem’s body and hid it for 4 months released! Mother’s cry: They strangled my daughter with a rope, they let her rot

On May 17, 2024, in Konya, Çiğdem Eskidemirci was strangled to death by Gholam Sakhi, an Afghan national who entered Turkey illegally, under the pretext that she refused his sexual advances. Çiğdem’s body was buried in the garden of the house where she was murdered by 3 of Sakhi’s friends, and one of these individuals, Bay Mohammad, continued to live in the same house for 3 months.Police teams, who examined Çiğdem’s HTS records, were able to locate her body 5 months later. In the first hearing regarding the murder, the suspects who buried Çiğdem’s body were released, while the murder suspect Sakhi remains in custody. Çiğdem’s family is fighting to make their voices heard by the public before the second hearing: “They gave me my child months later. They buried my daughter, my funeral.”

 Report: Sinem Nazlı Demir

The incident took place on May 17, 2024, in Konya city center, at the home of the murder suspect Gholam Sakhi. According to the suspect’s statement, Çiğdem and Sakhi had known each other for some time. On the day of the incident, Çiğdem went to Sakhi’s house.

While attempting to commit a qualified sexual assault against Çiğdem, the murder suspect Sakhi used her resistance as a pretext to strangle her to death with his hands and a shoelace he had in his pocket.

He then wrapped Çiğdem’s body in a blanket, hid it in the house’s coal cellar, and covered it. In his statement, Sakhi also noted that after killing Çiğdem, he went through her bag to find valuables, took her phone, sold it to a phone shop in the Konya city center the next day, and spent the money he received.

THEY FOUND THE BODY

After killing Çiğdem, Sakhi stayed in the same house for two days before leaving for the Karapınar district of Konya to work another job. During this time, an individual named Bay Mohammad, who shared the same house with Sakhi, continued to live in the house for a month alongside the heavy smell of the corpse. When the foul odor coming from the house disturbed the apartment residents, the landlord reported the situation to Bay Mohammad. Following the complaints, when Mohammad and two of his friends, Abdul Jabar Noori and Jawad Tabarshah, began cleaning the house, they discovered the body in the basement.

“WE BURIED THE BODY IN THE GARDEN, WE PERFORMED THE FUNERAL PRAYER”

 Defendant Abdul Jabar Noori explained what they did after finding Çiğdem’s body in his statement as follows:

 “When we arrived at the house, there was an extreme odor. The three of us entered the house’s coal cellar together. While we were moving old carpets and items, we saw a body with its feet visible and the upper part of its torso wrapped in an old blanket. The next morning, Bay Mohammad brought a shovel, rope, and trash bags. The three of us wrapped the body, which was already in the blanket, into a trash bag. Since we never opened the body, we did not realize if it was a man or a woman. We tore down an old tandoor oven in the garden of the house, and because we had entered Turkey illegally and were afraid that the death would be blamed on us, we decided to bury it in the garden together. Afterward, we performed the funeral prayer and prayed. On the evening of the same day, because we were afraid, Jawad and I left the house and went to the Cihanbeyli district to work; Bay Mohammad continued to stay at the house. I regret that we buried the body we found without notifying the police or anyone else.”

HE LIVED IN THE SAME HOUSE WITH ÇİĞDEM’S LIFELESS BODY FOR 3 MONTHS

After Çiğdem’s body was buried, the individual named Bay Mohammad continued to live in the same house for approximately 3 months. During this process, new developments occurred in the investigation launched based on the information that Çiğdem was missing. Examining the HTS records of Çiğdem’s phone, police teams determined that the device was sold to a phone shop in Konya one day after Çiğdem was murdered.

 “SHE SCREAMED, I CHOKED HER. I SOLD HER PHONE AND SPENT THE MONEY”

As a result of the interview with the phone shop owner, it was determined that the person who sold the device was Gholam Sakhi. Upon this, Sakhi was caught and taken into custody on September 10, 2024, at the farm where he worked in Karapınar, Konya.

In his statement taken by law enforcement on the same day, Sakhi used the following sentences:

“I am an Afghan citizen. I entered Turkey illegally about 8 years ago. For the last five years, I had been living in a bachelor house in Konya with friends of Afghan nationality like myself. Çiğdem came to see me in the afternoon while I was home alone. I insisted on having sexual relations. When Çiğdem started screaming and tried to hit me, I strangled her. I waited by her side for about 15 minutes, thinking she might have fainted, and poured water on her face. However, when she did not react, I realized she was dead. Afterwards, without telling anyone, I wrapped Çiğdem in a blanket found in the house and took her to the coal cellar. Bay Mohammad came home around 19:00 in the evening; I did not tell him anything. I sold Çiğdem’s phone for 1,000 TL and spent the money I received. I am remorseful.”

During this process, the other suspects, Bay Mohammad, Abdul Jabar Noori, and Jawad Tabarshah, were also detained on September 10, 2024, and sent to the Konya E-Type Closed Penal Execution Institution to be tried while in custody.

The autopsy report stated that Çiğdem died due to lack of oxygen caused by strangulation.

In the autopsy examination, it was stated that due to the advanced state of decomposition of Çiğdem’s body, her daughter’s testimony was sought for identification. The report noted that the soft tissues on Çiğdem’s skull had disappeared, the body was in the third stage of decomposition, weighed 30-35 kilograms, and that she died due to lack of oxygen resulting from airway obstruction caused by ligature strangulation.

The prepared indictment stated that the attempted qualified sexual assault by the defendant Gholam against Çiğdem remained at the attempt stage due to the victim’s resistance, and that Gholam, in a fit of rage for being unable to carry out the sexual assault, strangled the victim to death and committed the murder alone.

SUSPECTS WHO BURIED ÇİĞDEM’S LIFELESS BODY RELEASED AT THE FIRST HEARING!

 The first hearing was held at the Konya 2nd High Criminal Court on April 24. Murder suspect Gholam Sakhi was tried for Attempted Qualified Sexual Assault, Murder out of Rage for Being Unable to Commit Another Crime, Intentional Killing of a Woman, and Theft by Taking Advantage of a Person’s Death; the other suspects, Bay Mohammad, Abdul Jabar Noori, and Jawad Tabarshah, were tried for Destroying, Hiding, or Altering Evidence of a Crime.

The court panel released the suspects Mohammad, Noori, and Tabarshah, taking into account the time they spent in prison and imposing a travel ban.

“THEY BURIED MY DAUGHTER, MY FUNERAL. THEY LET HER ROT”

 Speaking to 12punto, father Ramazan Kocaoğlu stated that Çiğdem had raised her two children alone for 14 years and worked very hard for them, and he asked the public to support the case:

 “They gave me my child months later. They buried my daughter, my funeral, they let her rot. Then they gave her to me. A person from the district governor’s office came to our funeral, but there were 30 police officers. I want them to receive the heaviest sentence; the murderers of my daughter should not walk free.”

 “THEY STRANGLED MY DAUGHTER WITH A ROPE, MY HEART IS BURNING”

Mother Gülay Kocaoğlu also described the process they went through to the public with these words:

“My grandchild called me and said, ‘My mother was found in the basement.’ They strangled my daughter with a rope. Let them follow our file; why don’t they support these files when women die? Let my child be supported. My heart is burning, let no other mothers’ hearts burn.”

Speaking to 12punto, Faruk Şimşekoğlu, the lawyer for Çiğdem’s family, stated that Çiğdem’s family filed a missing person report on the day she was murdered, but the family did not receive any news for 4 months.

Şimşekoğlu described the detention process of the suspects with these words:

“The individual named Bay Mohammad lived in the house for a month with that foul odor and the decomposing body while the murder suspect Sakhi was not there. Neighbors complained to the landlord due to the bad smells coming from the house. Upon this, these 3 suspects, who are friends of the murder suspect Sakhi, found Çiğdem’s body while cleaning the house and buried it. They claim they did not know who the person they buried was and contacted Sakhi to inform him that they had buried the body. They say they did not report it due to fear of being deported from the country. During this process, the HTS records of Çiğdem’s phone were examined, and the main chain of the investigation began when it was understood that the murder suspect Sakhi had sold Çiğdem’s phone to a mobile phone shop.”

“ÇİĞDEM WAS KILLED WITH A MONSTROUS INTENT. THE KILLER KILLED JUST FOR THE SAKE OF KILLING”

Stating that the suspects Bay Mohammad, Abdul Jabar Noori, and Jawad Tabarshah, who had been in custody for approximately 8 months, were released at the first hearing, Şimşekoğlu, one of the volunteer lawyers for the Association of Children and Women First, stated that they would appeal this decision. Lawyer Faruk Şimşekoğlu, who said they would defend the right to life of Çiğdem and all murdered women both legally and socially, concluded his words as follows:

 “Çiğdem was killed with a monstrous intent. The murder suspect says he first covered Çiğdem’s mouth and then squeezed her throat. We believe he acted with the feeling of killing just for the sake of killing. This woman was a working woman, a poor woman. A woman who had to work and support her children. She was positioned as a victim of violence. As the Association of Children and Women First, we are fighting to prevent violence against women, to eradicate poverty, and to eliminate the language that socially produces violence. We are waging this struggle so that this violence does not happen to other women.”

 The next hearing will be held on August 5

The next hearing of the case opened regarding Çiğdem’s murder will be held on August 5, 2025, at the Konya 2nd High Criminal Court. Çiğdem’s family, loved ones, and lawyers are awaiting the support of the public.

News Source: Sinem Nazlı Demir