Judge stabbed by angry husband

IN the central Anatolian province of Kayseri, a family court judge was stabbed over the weekend by an angry husband, who was ordered not to come near his home for six months by the same judge last August.

According to Habertürk daily, a foreign national earlier this year filed a divorce application from her Turkish husband, who learned about his wife’s divorce application by chance when he checked his e-state account. Reports said the husband worked abroad as a surveyor in Ethiyopia when he learned of the application lodged by his wife, who he met 14 years ago while working in Ukraine.

On Aug. 18, she filed for a temporary injunction, which the judge on duty granted, ordering the husband not to come near his home for six months and start paying discretionary alimony. The judge on duty, identified only by his initials V.Ö., got the phone number of the wife and contacted her 10 days after the court session. From then on, the two started to regularly chat on WhatsApp.

On Sept. 21, the woman told the judge, who is married, that she had read a book that she was willing to loan him. They met at a park nearby and soon started to kiss. Meanwhile, the husband, who came near the house to see his children, saw the two instead, starting a fistfight with the judge before stabbing him.

The judge went to the hospital but did not want to explain how it happened. However, once automatically alerted to the matter, the police soon uncovered the truth. The husband was arrested for attempted murder, while the Kayseri Prosecutors’ Office was told about the judge’s conduct. The Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) decided to transfer the judge to Diyarbakır before initiating an inquiry. At the conclusion of the inquiry, the HSK decided to suspend the judge and initiate a broader investigation into the judge for conduct unbecoming the honor of the occupation.