The families of two Northern Irish women stabbed to death in Turkey may now have to wait for up to six months before a waiter accused of murdering them stands trial in an adult court.
A judge in the city of Izmir ruled yesterdaythat a file on bone tests carried out on Recep Cetin should be sent to Istanbul for further consideration.
Cetin is accused of stabbing to death Marion Graham and Kathy Dinsmore, both in their 50s, in a forest near Izmir last August. He denies the charges and tried to convince Turkish police that he was 17 and should be tried in a juvenile court. However, tests on his bones last week found that Cetin was 22 and should be tried as an adult.
After hearing from the defence team, though, the judge ordered that the bone tests
be scrutinised in Istanbul.
Baris Kaska, the lawyer for the Graham and Dinsmore families, said the next hearing was scheduled for 7 June but he doubted the judge would make a decision then on whether the case should go to the adult court. He said he thought it could take at least six months before that happened.
Kaska also said he expected prosecutors to formally charge Cetin’s father in connection with the murder in the next few weeks. Eyup Cetin, who is in his late 40s, was taken into custody several months ago.
Recep Cetin was the boyfriend of Graham’s 15-year-old daughter, Shannon, who was on a boat trip at the time of the killings. The prosecution alleges that Cetin attacked the women after becoming infuriated over Graham’s determination to stop him marrying her daughter.
