The trial of the man who killed 16-year-old Zehie Helin Reessur is set to conclude on October 24.
Her killer, Sefer Bugra Altundag, will learn his sentence, having been charged with premeditated murder, manslaughter, causing grievous bodily harm, serious assault, and attempted rape.
Reessur was murdered in the early hours of January 25, 2023.
It was heard in court in August last year that Altundag had taken her from Famagusta, her hometown, to the construction site of the Grand Sapphire resort in the Long Beach area of Trikomo.
He then reportedly hit her six times in the head with an iron hammer while still inside his car, before she attempted to make an escape. He then put her back in his car and hit her twice in the chin with an iron mould tension screw.
Later in August, Famagusta policeman Hakan Ozcuremez testified that Reessur’s boyfriend had told him she had been “with someone she saw as a brother, called Sefer” during the first of two phone calls between the two on the night she was killed.
However, when she next called him an hour later, there were audible arguments in the background, and Reessur reportedly only said “he hit me in the nose” before the call ended.
Altundag was sentenced to three years in prison by a military court for illegally entering a military base while fleeing the scene of the murder.
He had then travelled to the Republic, but then turned himself into police and was transferred back to the north.
Her family held a ceremony to mark what would have been her 18th birthday on April 29 this year, with relatives and some of her friends and teachers from school visiting her grave in Famagusta and leaving flowers and balloons.
“If she were still with us, she would probably be celebrating this special day with her loved ones, but in the spring of her life, she was unexpectedly taken away from us,” her aunt Cihan Tuccar said.
“An 18th birthday is an important moment to which every young person looks forward, and celebrating this day was a source of great excitement and happiness for her.”
She went on to say, “the love and the memory of Helin will always remain alive in our hearts. We shall always cherish her memory. Helin was a special person who spread joy and love to those around her, despite her short life.”
