SAEDNEWS: Turkish Man Identified and Sentenced to Life for Killing His 12-Year-Old Daughter in a Stabbing 20 Years Ago
According to Saednews report, the case of the murder of 12-year-old Hande Çinkitaş, who was brutally killed in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district in 2001, has entered a new phase after two decades, following the Supreme Court’s confirmation of a life sentence for her father.
The country’s Supreme Court upheld the life imprisonment verdict for Nezihe Çinkitaş and ordered his arrest. The 65-year-old suspect was detained at his home in Istanbul’s Göztepe district after new DNA tests identified his genetic traces on the tip of a knife recovered from the crime scene.
Hande Çinkitaş was found on January 4, 2001, in a house in the İçerenköy neighborhood of Kadıköy, showing signs of torture and having been killed by hammer blows. Following the incident, her mother, Handan Yılmazer, launched a long legal battle against her ex-husband.
In the early stages of the investigation, the local court acquitted the child’s father and stepmother, Şehnaz Çinkitaş, due to insufficient evidence. However, in 2020, a new report from the Turkish Forensic Medicine Institute led to the case being reopened.
Police in Istanbul, working with the homicide department and fugitive tracking units, launched a renewed investigation that ultimately led to the father’s arrest.
While being transferred to the prosecutor’s office, Nezihe Çinkitaş reacted to the proceedings by calling it “a judicial scandal.”
