Sister gives evidence to ‘honour killing’ trial from beyond the grave
The younger sister of Tulay Goren, a schoolgirl alleged to have been murdered in an ‘honour killing’ for falling in love, gave evidence from beyond the grave about the final time she saw her sibling.
Hatice Goren died in a car crash seven years after 15-year-old Tulay went missing in January 1999.
But in two video interviews recorded in the months after Tulay’s disappearance Hatice told the Old Bailey about the last time she had seen her.
She said her father Mehmet told eight-year-old brother Tuncay to kiss Tulay goodbye as it would be the last time he saw her.
“My dad said to my brother, go and kiss your sister, Tulay, because this is the last time that you are going to see her,” Hatice said. ”He went and kissed her and my dad was crying as well.”
The girl, then 13, wept as she described her sometimes troubled relationship with Tulay, saying: “Before I used to hate her, but now I like her because I miss her.”
Her father Mehmet Goren is alleged to have murdered Tulay after consulting with his brothers Ali and Cuma.
Mehmet, 49, of Navestock Crescent, Woodford Green, north east London, together with Cuma Goren, 42, of Evesham Avenue, Walthamstow, east London, and Ali Goren, 56, of Brettenham Road, Walthamstow, deny murdering Tulay on January 7 1999.
They also deny conspiracy to murder her boyfriend Halil Unal between May 1998 and February 1999.
The court heard that during an interview on March 23 1999, Hatice said her sister was “fun” although they sometimes argued over “clothes and things”.
She became upset when talking about Tulay and said: “I don’t want to talk about her at all, I just wanted to cry.”
In another interview on June 11, Hatice was asked about the night of January 6 after Tulay had been brought back home by her parents, having run away to be with her boyfriend.
Hatice said Tulay was going to jump out of the window and her father then “got her around the neck”.
She said the next morning her sister told the family that she wanted to go back with her boyfriend.
Hatice said: “She was upset and she was crying.”
There was a phone call from Ali, in which Mehmet was told to go out and call him from a phone box, she said.
Hatice said her father later told Tuncay to say goodbye to Tulay, before they went to stay with uncle Cuma.
When they returned home, she noticed Tulay’s jumper and two pairs of her shoes were left, which her father told her to throw away.
Hatice was asked about how her mother was, and said: “She is upset … she thinks that my sister is dead.”
Asked about her father, she said: “He is okay … he’s not upset really.”
The trial was adjourned until Monday.
Tulay Goren