Sexual abuse of mentally-disabled girl begets minimum penalty

A Turkish court has ordered a 52-year-old storekeeper to serve minimum prison time for sexually abusing a mentally-disabled girl in the southeastern province of Diyarbak?r, because of the girl's inability to comprehend the legal consequences of what she was exposed to. 

The perpetrator, identified by the initials A.A., was arrested for sexually abusing the young girl with a mental disorder in his grocery store in Diyarbak?r's Ba?lar district in 2014, and charged with "sexual abuse" and "depriving one of freedom" by the Diyarbak?r 2nd Court for Serious Crimes. 

The court sentenced the storekeeper with two minimum penalties, four years and four and a half years respectively for account he was charged with, despite the fact that the indictment prepared at the time of filing carried a penalty of up to 23 years in prison. 

Citing an expert report by the Dicle University in Diyarbak?r as the rationale of the ruling, the court said the man was sentenced to a minimum time in prison because of the victim's inability to comprehend the legal consequences of sexual abuse. 

The court also said, citing the statements from the expert report, the victim had not been psychologically and emotionally affected because the girl's undeveloped intellectual capacity. 

In the company of a psychotherapist, the 12-year-old victim said in her courtroom testimony that the storekeeper had physically contacted her and showed her nude pictures of males and females.

During the court hearing, the victim's mother, identified by the initials N.Ö., testified that she went to the grocery store to look for her daughter after she had not returned home.

"I freaked out when I saw the perpetrator standing by my daughter with his pants down. I told...