Esra Gülten is suing her uncle, Himmet Babayiğit, for shooting her cat dead with a rifle in the Pınarkent area of the Honaz district, located in Denizli, claiming Babayiğit should be punished for his “brutal and inhuman” act. Gülten alleged that her uncle killed her cat, Balım, after the animal entered his garden the previous day. Noting that she called the gendarmerie after she saw the incident, Gülten said: “Officials from the gendarmerie launched an investigation into the incident as soon as I called them for help. The autopsy determined that the cat was killed by a shot from my uncle Babayiğit's rifle.”Gülten said that she lodged a claim against Babayiğit, using the autopsy report as evidence and added: “I have the required documents to prove that it was Babayiğit who killed my cat. This is not the first time he has hurt a cat in our village. He previously shot another cat belonging to one of my uncles and blinded it. He also shot another one in the leg and crippled it. His acts are tantamount to violence. He should be punished for what he has done.”
She claimed Babayiğit's real intention is to force her family to leave the village. “He does not want us to stay in the village and tries to intimidate us by perpetrating violent acts against our pets. A man who persecutes animals should not go unpunished,” she said. Contending that Babayiğit shot her cat dead because of a deep-rooted animosity between the two families, she added: “I will seek redress in court. Babayiğit harms unprotected and innocent animals out of anger. He should be punished. He deserves this.”
