Turkish teenager battered by employers for seeking his unpaid wages

A 16-year-old Turkish teenager has been battered by his former employers when he demanded his unpaid wages totaling 200 Turkish Liras. After he filed a complaint against his attackers, he was accused of theft.

Friday June 25 2021 02:52 pm

Osman Çaklı / DUVAR

A 16-year-old Turkish teenager identified only as Şükrü Can K. was assaulted by his former employers who owed him 200 Turkish Liras, and now faces theft charges in a Turkish court where he filed a complaint against his attackers.

A resident of western Afyonkarahisar, Şükrü Can was owed 200 Turkish Liras when he quit his job at a fish restaurant in March, and his former employers called him back to the store before he started his new job.

The attackers, identified only as A.A. and A.S., battered Şükrü Can for over an hour and a half, leaving him with broken bones in his skull, his arm and his back.

Şükrü Can filed a complaint about his attackers on March 12, and the prosecutor sought charges of deliberate injury against the former employers.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor also sought charges of theft against the teenager based on the statement of an eyewitness who is a currently an employee of the attackers, the teenager's attorney Elif Tuğba Şahin said.

The attorney said authorities had already determined that the eyewitness had lied in one of their statements and it would violate the law to build up the case on the testimony of such a person.

"Şükrü Can may get a punishment based on an eyewitness who has been determined to be lying. And this would be against the law," said the lawyer.

The teenager's mother urged the court to punish the attackers, saying: "The kid is innocent, he was beaten for trying to get the money that his former employers owed him."

The mother also said that his son is afraid of leaving his house out of fear that his attackers will ambush him.