Turkey: Man kills wife for giving birth to a second daughter

Ankara, June 7:A Turkish man is charged with electrocuting his wife for giving birth to a second daughter. He later confessed to the crime over the phone.

The 29-year-old from southeastern Diyarbakir province placed a live electric wire under her chin, a day after gibing birth to a girl.

Incidentally, he had made a telephone call to the police revealing his murderous intent who could not avert the crime.

In a front page transcript of the entire phone call, the Vatan newspaper describes how he did the crime.

I killed someone," the man told the police operator, according to the transcript.

"Who did you kill?" asked the officer on the other end.

"I am killing my wife right now," said the man.

"Did you kill her or are you killing her?" the officer asked.

"Well, she isn't dead yet. But I am killing her if the murder is halal (permissible in Islam)," the man replied.

The officer then asked if the suspect had a problem with his wife.

"I am telling you that I killed my wife but you are asking what the problem was," the man replied.

"I closed her mouth as she is in the throes of death," he then said.

At which point the police operator snapped into action: "OK, wait. I am sending a unit".

A defence lawyer told the court at a hearing Wednesday that his client killed his wife because she gave birth to "a girl once again".

A waiter at a local restaurant in the Kurdish-majority region, the man also has a 4-year old daughter.

The defence lawyer at the court hearing criticised the police saying that they should have been more convincing and alert in this matter.

The incident brings to light the number of domestic violence cases in Turkey where women and children are the greatest victims.