Dad on trial for "honor killing" of 15-year-old daughter collapses in court (London, England, United Kingdom)

Dad MEHMET GOREN is on trial for the 1999 "honor killing" of his 15-year-old daughter. He collapsed in court as his wife gave testimony against him.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1221449/Father-accused-murdering-daughter-honour-killing-collapses-court-wife-takes-stand-evidence-him.html

Father accused of murdering daughter in 'honour killing' collapses in court as his wife gives evidence against him
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:54 PM on 19th October 2009

The father accused of murdering his own 15-year-old daughter today collapsed in the dock as his wife broke a code of silence and gave evidence against him.

Turkish Kurd Mehmet Goren, 49, had a fit and had to be helped to lie on the floor of the dock by prison officers at the Old Bailey as the stunned jury looked on.

The court proceedings were brought to an abrupt halt while the dock descended into chaos as an ambulance and doctor were called, interrupting Mehmet's wife Hanim, 45, who was giving evidence for the first time.

She had been giving evidence for just 45 minutes when Mehmet took a turn for the worse and slumped forward from his chair.

It is alleged their daughter was killed in 1999 after she fell in love with the wrong man Halil Unal, a manager of an East End sweatshop she met while doing work experience.

Mr Unal, was then 15 years older than the teenager and a Sunni Muslim, while the Goren family were Alevi Shi'a which was 'considered utterly unacceptable' in the rural communities they originated from in Eastern Turkey.

It is alleged her father Mehmet, 49, and her uncles Ali, 55, and Cuma, 42, in a 'family council' had decided the pair must die because Tulay was seen as a 'valueless commodity' after losing her virginity to him.

In a bid to restore their reputation the family had reluctantly agreed the pair could marry but she was too young - and because of the gossip in the community, the family felt their honour had been tarnished forever, it was claimed.

In January 1999 they tried to lure Halil to a trap but when that failed Tulay who had no passport disappeared without a trace.

Two weeks after the alleged attack, Mehmet attacked Halil with an axe after luring him to an ambush.

Mother of four Hanim told the court she married Mehmet when she was 16 and the family arrived from Turkey in the mid 1990s claiming asylum and lived off benefits.

However in 1998 she started work at the Hackney factory where Halil was the manager and Tulay came to work in the summer holidays.

But after being there just two days told her mum about the attention she was getting from Halil.

Through a Kurdish interpreter she told the court: 'She said 'mum, the manager, they call Halil the manager, asked me to be friends with him.' Mrs Goren told the court was shocked and angry.

'Apart from the age I was very very against it because he was a stranger. He was from a different town.

'I was very against it. I was against him I was very very angry.' The Goren family were Alevi muslims and Mr Unal was a Sunni, she explained to the jury.

But her father soon discovered Tulay had been sneaking out of school to see him, it was said.

Mr Unal had turned up at the Woodbridge High School pretending to be her uncle, the court was told.

Mrs Goren said: 'One day her father went to school. He apparently found out that Tulay had not been attending school.

'Apparently some person went to school and introduced himself as her uncle and took her.

'Then we asked around and asked around and it turned out to be that it was this person.

'Until that person went to her school, Tulay did not have any problems, not at school, not at home.'

At this point Mehmet Goren collapsed in the dock causing confusion with one interpreter saying his lips had gone blue.
Mehmet, Ali, and Cuma Goren denied murdering Tulay and conspiracy to murder Halil Unal.

The trial continues.

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