Turkish murder suspect ‘is an adult’

A Turkish waiter accused of killing two Irish women has been proven to be at least 22 years old.

Recep Cetin underwent DNA testing in December to determine his age. He had claimed to be 17 years old. Yesterday, a court in Izmir accepted medical evidence that shows Cetin is not a juvenile, as he claimed, but an adult.

Bone marrow tests have shown he is more than 22 years old and therefore faces a much longer prison sentence if he is found guilty of murder.

Cetin yesterday faced the third stage of his murder hearing alongside his father, Erup Cetin, at the Izmir Fifth High Criminal Court.

He has already admitted to the killing of Marian Graham and Kathy Dinsmore, both 53, in Aug 2011.

But in a dramatic outburst he defended his father, Erup, who is accused by Turkish prosecutors with aiding in the double-killing.

Under cross-examination by prosecution lawyer Baris Kaska, Cetin said: “My father is innocent. You cannot find him in the CCTV footage. Please release my father, he is innocent. My father is in prison for one year, all for nothing. I have six siblings, all of them are students.

“If there is a secret witness, I want him to come to trial and to be heard.”

Cetin then went on to attack the prosecuting lawyer personally. “This lawyer, Baris Kaska, is trying to make himself famous,” he said. “He speaks to newspapers everyday and is posing for cameras.”

Cetin’s father also protested his innocence.

“I don’t have any connection with the event. I believe in justice but I was arrested after the secret witnesses testified at trial.

“I am in prison for 13 months for nothing. I demand my freedom because I am innocent.”

High security was in place at the 45-minute hearing, attended by Cetin’s family.

Defence lawyer Aydogan Yolyapan was told by the chief judge in the trial: “There is a conflict of interest here. You need to represent one client or the other.”

In another dramatic twist, Yolyapan withdrew as representation for Recep Cetin, but will continue to represent Erup Cetin.

The two women’s bodies were found in woodland near the holiday resort where they were staying in Kusadasi, Turkey.

Ms Graham and her daughter, Shannon, regularly travelled on Irish passports to Turkey, where Shannon had started a relationship with Recep Cetin.

The pair were said to have been seeing each other as a couple for two-and-a-half years while the family spent their summers in the Turkish resort and travelled back to Ireland during the winter months.

Their relationship was strained after Cetin put pressure on teenaged Shannon to marry him, with neighbours reporting a chaotic relationship, with shouting heard late into the night.

In a bid to dissuade Cetin from attempting to marry her daughter, Ms Graham is thought to have enlisted the help of her friend, Ms Dinmore.

The pair agreed to drive with Cetin on a shopping trip, before it is alleged he drove them to woodlands, stabbed Ms Graham in the chest and cut Ms Dinmore’s throat.

Police arrested Shannon Graham’s waiter boyfriend soon after the bodies were found, and Cetin confessed to the killing during an interview.

The families of the victims did not travel to Turkey to witness the proceedings.

The case was adjourned until November 9.