Yet another delay in trial for murder of Turkish Cypriot girl

There was yet another delay in the trial of Sefer Bugra Altundag on Friday, who stands accused of murdering 16-year-old Turkish Cypriot girl Zehie Helin Reessur.

The case had most recently been postponed on November 30, with the case’s prosecutor telling the Trikomo criminal court that “this must be the last time” the case can be delayed.

However, the prosecutor’s demands fell on deaf ears after Altundag’s lawyer said in court on Friday that there had been “no clear result” from his meetings with Altundag’s family.

Presiding judge Hasan Dagli said that discussions “should now be clarified” and postponed the case to December 18.

By the time the next hearing begins, it will have been 338 days since the murder took place.

Altundag said in an earlier hearing that he accepts all charges except that of premeditated murder.

He has already been convicted of “violating a military base” while escaping the scene of the murder in military court in September, and as a result will spend three years in military prison.

Earlier, the Trikomo district court had heard how Reessur saw Altundag as a brother, and about how she had called her boyfriend on the night of the murder, telling him Altundag had “hit [her] on the nose” before the call swiftly ended.

In a previous hearing, the court had heard how Altundag had “hit her head six times with iron hammer” and then “twice in the chin with an iron mould tension screw”.