THE Turkish waiter accused of killing two Irish women must be tried as an adult, it was claimed yesterday.
Lawyers insisted Recep Cetin should face a lengthy jail term if convicted with his dad — regardless of whether he was a juvenile at the time of the alleged double murder.
Two months ago DNA tests were ordered to establish Cetin’s real age when Newry friends Marian Graham, 54, and Kathy Dinsmore, 53, were brutally stabbed to death near Kusadasi last August.
Prosecutors have disputed a birth cert which suggests the accused lad, who was going out with Marion’s 15-year-old daughter Shannon before the attack, is just 17.
But the case was adjourned by Izmir’s Juvenile Court yesterday when it emerged results from bone marrow tests had yet to come through. Despite the setback, lawyer for the Graham family Baris Kaska told how Cetin could now stand trial with his dad, cabbie Eyup Cetin, who has been charged with aiding in the murders.
Mr Kaska said: “Even if the marrow shows Cetin is 17, the judge has the authority to send a juvenile to adult court if they committed the crime alongside an adult.
“Cetin’s father was arrested and now he is a detainee in prison.”
Turkish police, who believe Cetin Jr is aged 20 or 21, claim he killed his victims because they had told him he couldn’t marry Shannon.