5-Year Prison Sentence for the Suspect Accused of Shooting and Killing 12-Year-Old Kerem

The trial regarding the incident that took place in the Termal district of Yalova in 2018, which resulted in the death of 12-year-old Kerem Karakaya, concluded after a long process. The incident began in the morning hours when Kerem went to the house of his school friend F.B., and according to allegations, a discharge occurred while playing with a hunting rifle found in the woodshed of the house. Following the tragedy, a legal process was initiated against the mother, S.B., due to the lack of criminal capacity of the underage child F.B. The years-long investigation and trial phases brought about great curiosity and reaction from both the victim's family and the public. Ultimately, the court announced its decision regarding the suspect after evaluating the opinion and the evidence.

At the initial stage of the incident, S.B., the mother of F.B., was being tried in the Yalova 5. Asliye Ceza Mahkemesi on the charge of 'causing death by negligence'. However, the court could not dispel the doubts regarding the way the incident occurred and highlighted important details. Technical findings such as the weight of the weapon, the gun being fired twice, and the cartridge being changed gave rise to the suspicion that the incident could not be an ordinary accident. In addition, facts such as the young child's lack of knowledge of the gun's firing mechanism and the incomplete collection of evidence pushed the court toward a different decision. Upon these suspicions, the court filed a criminal complaint with the Yalova Cumhuriyet Başsavcılığı to evaluate the possibility of 'intentional murder' in the case. The comprehensive investigation conducted by the prosecutor's office led to S.B. being directly positioned as a suspect.

In the new indictment prepared by the prosecutor's office, it was claimed that the person who actually fired the gun on the day of the incident was not F.B., but her mother, S.B. The public prosecutor, who examined the file in depth, argued the thesis that S.B. shot and killed Kerem Karakaya with the rifle, held in the judicial repository, at an undetermined time when he came to her house. At the critical hearing held at the Yalova 3. Ağır Ceza Mahkemesi, S.B. participated via video link from Trabzon through the SEGBİS system. During the hearing, the prosecutor stated that all evidence obtained pointed to the suspect and requested that S.B. be sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for the crime of 'intentional murder'. The suspect, S.B., firmly rejected these severe charges, arguing that she was sleeping at home during the hours the incident occurred and was unaware of it.

After the judicial panel took a recess to meticulously evaluate all documents in the file, the prosecutor's request for aggravated life imprisonment, and the suspect's statements, it announced its final decision. The court did not find the crime of 'intentional murder' requested by the prosecution appropriate and decided to convict the suspect of 'causing death by negligence'. In this context, S.B. was sentenced to 5 years in prison, thus concluding the legal battle that had been ongoing for years in the first-instance court. Although the court accepted that the victim was shot with the mother's rifle, it concluded that the incident was not an intentional act, but the result of 'negligence', meaning carelessness and omission. This decision was shaped by the judicial panel's legal and technical approach to the incident, deeming the elements of intent insufficiently proven.

This decision announced by the court plunged both the victim's family's lawyers and the public into deep disappointment and anger. Lawyer Şermin Tankut stated that they could not accept a low sentence such as 5 years while expecting an aggravated life imprisonment sentence, and announced that the decision would definitely be taken to the court of appeals. Tankut emphasized that they found the decision made on the grounds of 'causing death by negligence' questionable after an eight-year process and that they would continue their legal struggle to the end. On the other hand, Rahime Karakaya, the mother who lost her 12-year-old child, experienced great sorrow, expressing her grief and outrage in the courthouse corridors. The grieving mother, who stated they had been waiting for their child's killer to be punished for nine years, strongly reacted to the decision, stating that justice was not served.