[Hurriyet Daily News] Concerning yet another woman's murder in Turkey, the suspect in Istanbul has pleaded not guilty"Wudn't me."
by accusing a "genie" of killing his girlfriend.
The body of 35-year-old Fatma Serban was found in a residence in Istanbul's Ümraniye neighborhood in September 2014. Her boyfriend, 33-year-old Köksal Sahin, was detained in the western province of Izmir and confessed to the murder in his initial testimony.
On the first day of his trial at the 2nd Anadolu Heavy Penal Court, however, Sahin pleaded not guilty, according to Dogan News Agency. "As far as I understood, a genie attacked her," Sahin told the court, claiming Serban slit her own throat and stabbed herself in the stomach during their quarrel.
Sahin detailed his supernatural explanation by adding that Serban had an episode of mania after she saw the Islamic amulet on his neck and was "saying something in Arabic" during the episode.
He further claimed that he then found himself in an Izmir hostel hundreds of kilometers away from the scene of the crime, because he was "also attacked by the genie."
The trial is ongoing, as prosecutors demand the court to send Sahin to jail for life with an aggravated sentence for murder, as well as an additional 8.5-18 years for stealing Serban's valuable items after the murder.