Aggravated life sentence for unlicensed driver in Ergani: court treated the vehicle as a weapon

The Ergani High Criminal Court sentenced unlicensed driver Muhammed Mustafa Can (18) to aggravated life imprisonment for murder with possible intent; the panel treated the vehicle as a weapon, setting a first in Turkey in traffic accident trials. The ruling was issued in the case concerning the vehicle that struck students on their way to school on Hastane Caddesi in Diyarbakır's Ergani district on April 14.

High school student Muhammed Ali Kalkan (17), who was injured in the accident, lost his life four days after being taken to hospital; 11-year-old Ahmet Çınar Üstü was discharged after prolonged treatment. The driver was found to have been drifting and to have been under the influence of alcohol. The Ergani Chief Public Prosecutor's Office filed a case against Can seeking aggravated life imprisonment.

Can, who was tried in detention at the Ergani High Criminal Court, said in his defense that he was a 12th-grade student at a vocational high school and that he had no driver's license. Stating that he had secretly taken the car key from home and had not driven a car alone before, Can said, "My speed at the time of the incident was around 50-60 km." Admitting that he had drunk two glasses of beer the night before, Can said, "When a child jumped into the road, I pulled the handbrake and turned the wheel. I did not do the zigzags deliberately."

The court refuted the defendant's claim that a girl had jumped in front of him, with camera footage and witness statements. In the reasoned decision, it was stated that "in the camera examination report, there was no person jumping into the road and the defendant was seen traveling fast and in zigzags at the scene." The panel noted that the defendant carried out his act by taking and accepting the outcome, saying "whatever happens, happens."

The court first commuted the aggravated life sentence handed down for murder with possible intent to life imprisonment, and then to 25 years. The panel, treating the vehicle as a weapon because of the injury to Ahmet Çınar Üstü, sentenced him to 3 years, 4 months and 25 days in prison. Can's file, in which he appealed against the total sentence of 28 years, 4 months and 25 days, was sent to the Diyarbakır Regional Court of Justice.