'Honour killing' in hospital
2004-02-27 14:17
Istanbul - A young Turkish woman, who had a child out of wedlock, was mortally wounded by her brother in hospital where she was rushed after a first attempt to kill her to avenge family honour, newspapers reported on Friday.
Guldunya Toren, 22, was declared brain-dead after her two brothers, aged 20 and 24, got into the Istanbul hospital overnight Wednesday to Thursday and shot her twice in the head as she lay in her bed.
The brothers, who had been told by the family to carry out this "honour killing" - the name given here to the killing by relatives of women suspected of being unchaste - escaped on foot.
Left for dead
On Thursday she had been rushed to hospital after being shot in the leg and left for dead by her brothers in an Istanbul street.
Interviewed in hospital shortly after the first attempt on her life, she asked for police protection, according to newspapers which carried banner headlines and pictures of her on their front-pages Friday.
"I know they won't want me to live. I'm scared," she told reporters.
Guldunya, who came from a small village in the conservative southeast of the country, gave birth two months ago to a baby boy after a relationship with her cousin's husband.
Her father asked the cousin to take her on as a "second wife", but he refused. She was sent to Istanbul to have her baby before the family decided to kill her.
- AFP