Public Prosecutor Mehmet Murat Ferhat completed the investigation into the death of the girl, Aslı Keçeci. The prosecutor concluded that negligence by the apartment complex managers in Antalya’s Kepez district, played a role in the death of Keçeci, who drowned in a sewer near her house. The managers identified in the indictment were Hüseyin Hastürk, İsa Keskinoğlu, Mehmet Erdoğan, İbrahim Zengin and Hulusi Karataş.According to an expert opinion cited in the indictment, the original cover of the sewer had been broken and had not been replaced. The apartment complex managers were held responsible for failing to repair the cover of the sewer.
According to the indictment, the managers committed an offence by not replacing the damaged cover of the sewer with a new cover, subsequently causing the death of Keçeci. The indictment also stated that cleaners who disinfected the sewer on the day prior to the incident, were not guilty as they had placed the same cover back over the sewer.
In consideration of the autopsy report, expert opinion and witness reports, the five managers of the apartment complex could face two to six years in jail.
The indictment has been accepted by 14th Penal Court of First Instance. The trial of the five accused will commence in upcoming months.
Keçeci drowned on April 21, while walking to a neighbor’s apartment in the Sinem apartment complex to get some food. Keçeci’s pregnant mother, Yeliz, was watching her daughter from the balcony of their apartment and witnessed her daughter’s death minute by minute. Deaths of children due to drowning in sewers or manholes are very common in Turkey, which are often as a result of negligence and the failure to take necessary preventative measures against such incidents.
