The 34-year-old from South Africa s KwaZulu-Natal province was arrested in December 2019, and made several court appearances before he pleaded guilty on Monday.
Woman Who Killed Husband After Years of Abuse Wins Freedom in Landmark Self-Defense Ruling
On 4/28/21 at 11:47 AM EDT
A court in Turkey has ruled that a woman who killed her husband had been acting in self-defense, in a verdict that has been welcomed by a women s rights group.
A court in Antalya heard harrowing testimony via video link from Melek Ipek, 31, about how she had been regularly beaten by her husband Ramazan Ipek, 36, throughout their 12-year marriage.
In her account in the indictment, she described how on January 6 this year, she had been handcuffed by her husband who hit her with a rifle butt and threatened to kill her and their daughters, aged nine and seven,
Trial of Woman Who Killed Her Husband Highlights Domestic Abuse in Turkey
The case against Melek Ipek, who is being supported by women’s rights groups, has become a touchstone issue in Turkish politics.
The police cordoned off the house where Melek Ipek fatally shot her husband in Antalya, Turkey, in January.Credit.Bulent Tatogullari/DHA
Published March 16, 2021Updated March 18, 2021
ISTANBUL Handcuffed and naked, Melek Ipek endured a night of beatings, sexual assault and death threats from her husband that left her and their two daughters battered and traumatized. By morning, after he went out and came back to the house, she had picked up a gun and killed him in a struggle.
A woman who killed her abusive husband who beat, raped and tortured her for years is facing life in prison after prosecutors said the crime was not self-defence.
Melek Ipek, 31, shot her husband dead on the night of January 7 when she managed to reach his rifle, threaten him with it and shoot as he approached.
But Turkish prosecutors said the incident, which took place in the couple s home in the district of Dosemealti of the southern Turkish city of Antalya, was not self-defence.
Melek was repeatedly tortured by her husband during the course of their 12-year marriage and was threatened with death if she dared report him to the police, so she never did.