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Father and son 'near scene of killings' in Turkey | |
(about 3 hours later) | |
By Chris Page BBC NI reporter | |
Turkish judges examining evidence about the murders of two County Down women have heard from a witness who claims to have seen the two suspects near the scene of the killings. | |
Recep Cetin, 22, and his father Eyup are accused of murdering Marion Graham and Cathy Dinsmore. | |
Ms Graham, from Newry, and Ms Dinsmore, from Warrenpoint, were stabbed to death in August 2011. | |
Their bodies were found in a forest on the outskirts of the city of Izmir. | |
Recep and Eyup Cetin are being tried in a series of hearings which are being held over a number of months in Izmir. | |
On Friday morning, the panel of four judges heard evidence from a witness who testified via video link from another courtroom. | |
The witness's identity was kept secret and his voice was disguised. | |
The witness said he had been visiting a graveyard close to the forest on the day of the killings. | |
He claimed he heard moans and screams, then followed a path and saw the suspects standing beside an electricity pillar. | |
The witness said he went to the police the following day when he saw a newspaper report. | |
But a defence lawyer claimed that according to police records, the witness did not go to the police until a month after the killings. | |
Recep and Eyup Cetin said they did not accept the witness's statement and called him a liar. | |
They asked the court to set them free but the judges ordered that they be kept in custody. | |
The court also heard evidence from a taxi driver who drove both victims from Kusadasi, where they were staying, to Izmir along with Recep Cetin. | |
An officer from the Turkish Birth Registry office also attended court and confirmed that Recep Cetin's legally accepted age was 22, not 17 as he had previously claimed. | |
This means that Recep Cetin will face a heavier penalty if convicted, as his case will continue in the adult court system rather than the juvenile justice system where it was initially being dealt with. | |
Recep Cetin was the boyfriend of Marion Graham's teenage daughter Shannon at the time of the murders. | |
The next hearing will take place on 28 December. | |
The lawyer for the victims' families, Baris Kaska, said he believed there would be several more evidence sessions before the case concludes. |