Two jailed for killing pregnant Syrian refugee and her baby

A court in north-west Turkey has sentenced two men to life in jail for the murder last year of a pregnant Syrian woman and her 10-month-old baby.

The refugee was days from giving birth when she was raped and bludgeoned to death with rocks by the Turkish attackers in the north-western Sakarya province. Her baby boy was strangled.

The two were convicted of planned murder, killing a pregnant woman, sexual assault and killing a baby deprived of defending himself, the staterun Anadolu news agency reported.

The woman’s husband was quoted as saying he was not satisfied with Monday’s court ruling.

“Those who brutally killed my wife and my baby have no right to life,” he cried outside the court, the Turkish daily Hurriyet reported.

In his defence, Birol Karaca, one of the attackers, confessed that he had raped the woman.

“I didn’t kill her. I only raped her,” he said.

“I have nothing more to say. This is my defence.”

In July last year, the woman’s husband contacted the Turkish security authorities after he could not find his pregnant wife and baby.

The authorities detained the two men, who confessed to what officials called a barbaric attack in a country that is home to more than three million refugees from the civil war in Syria.

Turkey has been hailed for its hospitality in hosting the Syrian refugees and, despite occasional outbreaks of tension, there have been few incidents of serious violence directed against Syrians.

The suspects broke into the woman’s home and grabbed her and her baby boy, taking them to a forest in Sakarya where villagers later found their bodies.

The men worked at a factory with the victim’s husband, with whom they had argued days before the murders, Turkish media reported last year.