Ex-Fenerbahce star Sezer Ozturk faces 32 years in prison for shooting dad-of-two dead during ‘road rage incident’
FORMER Fenerbahce star Sezer Ozturk is facing 32 years in prison for allegedly shooting a dad-of-two dead during a road rage incident in Istanbul.
He stands accused of killing Halil Ibrahim Scholten with an unlicensed firearm in September last year.
Ozturk, 36, was returning home to the rental house he and his family were staying at after a day out at the zoo with his friend Omer Genc.
He was with his wife and three children, as well as their nanny, in one car, and his friend was in another car with his two children and his wife.
Ozturk said that there were two or three vehicles blocking the road near to the house, so he asked the other drivers to move out of the way so that he could get through.
He said that he was told to ‘wait’, but after 10 minutes, he asked them to move their cars again, adding that on this occasion, he was insulted.
Ozturk told the court: “Because I had my family with me, I stayed calm, but my one-and-a-half-year-old child was crying in the car, I had to go home. There was no other way to go.
“And then finally someone stuck his head in the window on my wife’s side of the car and cursed.”
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The German-born Turkish footballer said: “We do not use foul language when there are women and children around. We live for our honour.
“I took his insults in my stride because I realised that they were drunk. I got out of the car when I realised that one of them opened the back door.
“As soon as I got out, someone punched me, they started hitting me with the wheel wrench. Someone threw a chair at me.
“I learned that the deceased also had two children, but I did not initiate this, I am not responsible for it.”
He said that he was hit multiple times and that his friend Genc then got out of his own car after witnessing this and opened fire with a gun, shooting two or three times in the air.
Ozturk, who played 15 games for Fenerbahce between 2011-13, added: “There were 15 to 20 drunk people in front of us and we were fighting with our spouses against them.”
FIRED 10-12 SHOTS INTO AIR
He said that the other group then dispersed, but a person driving a white pickup truck then drove at him. He said that he tried to avoid the vehicle but his foot was crushed.
They then returned home after the group had left and, leaving his family at home, Ozturk and Genc then set off for the hospital.
But he claims that they were blocked by a group of about 20 people, including the victim, who were armed with sharp objects and sticks.
He said that when he got out of the vehicle, he went towards the victim, which is when his friend Genc allegedly said: “Brother, there is a gun.”
Ozturk claims he then opened fire without aiming.
He said that he then got back into his car after he and his friend fired approximately 10 to 12 shots in the air. One of these shots hit Scholten.
Genc stated that a large group had attacked them, adding that he thought that they were going to kill him.
32-YEAR JAIL SENTENCE RECOMMENDED
Scholten was just 25 years old when he lost his life in the incident. His partner, Dilek Ozdemir, stated that she did not see what happened.
But she said: “My child cries every night for his father. He should receive the heaviest punishment.”
Scholten’s mother, who has not been named, but who was present in court, reportedly said: “What am I going to complain about? I am not complaining. I refer it all to God.”
Both defendants requested to be released, but the court decided to keep them detained.
The footballers lawyer’s request for further investigations to be made at the crime scene was thrown out. The hearing was then adjourned.
The statement by the defendants do not appear to match the indictment prepared by the Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
This described how the defendants argued with the victim before running up behind him with a gun and aiming at him before firing a total of six shots.
Ozturk stands accused of ‘deliberately killing under unjust provocation’, ‘deliberately wounding with a gun under unjust provocation’, ‘damaging property under unjust provocation’, ‘repeatedly threatening with a gun’, and ‘possession of an unlicensed weapon’.
The Public Prosecutor has demanded that the footballer be jailed for 32 years and nine months and Genc for for 28 years and one month.