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An 80-year-old woman in Turkey may spend over four years in prison after lightly striking her 18-year-old granddaughter on the arm with a house slipper during a domestic disagreement.
Asiye Kaytan, who resides with her granddaughter Asiye Vural in the Topraklık district of Denizli, southwestern Turkey, has taken on a protective role since the young woman’s parents separated. On 9th August last year, tensions arose when Vural returned from work and informed her grandmother of plans to go out with friends. Concerned for her safety, Kaytan refused and even locked the door in an attempt to stop her from leaving.
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During the heated exchange, Vural tried to open the door, prompting Kaytan to hit her lightly on the arm with a house slipper. In the heat of the moment, Vural struck her grandmother on the head with her phone, causing a minor injury. Alarmed by the sight of blood, she abandoned her plans and called for medical assistance.
Recounting the incident to Sabah newspaper, Kaytan said, “My granddaughter wanted to go out in the evening, I did not allow it, I locked the door. I hit her on the hand with the slipper, and she hit me on the head with her phone. When I started bleeding, she got scared and called an ambulance.”
Although neither party filed a formal complaint, their statements to paramedics and the subsequent medical report from Denizli State Hospital were forwarded to the police. Despite their insistence that the matter had been resolved privately, public prosecutors pursued legal action.
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The prosecution argued that Kaytan’s slipper constituted a weapon and that the teenager had acted in self-defence. Additionally, they charged Kaytan with unlawful confinement, as she had locked her granddaughter inside the home—a serious offence carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years.
On 25th February, the 12th Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced Kaytan to two years and six months for deprivation of liberty through force, threat or deception, and another two years and six months for using a “weapon” in the course of the offence. Although her sentence was reduced to four years and two months, her lawyer has appealed.
“Am I going to prison at age 80? How will I live there?” the elderly woman asked in despair. “I have had surgery, and I walk with difficulty. They will put me in prison because of a house slipper. No one should hit their child with a slipper because it is considered a weapon. I had no idea a slipper was a weapon.”
Vural echoed her grandmother’s distress, saying, “My grandmother received a prison sentence because she hit me with a slipper and prevented me from leaving the house. I did not want it to be this way. I did not file a complaint against her, but a public case was opened.”
Kaytan’s solicitor, Hasan Ozan Orpak, referenced a similar case in Denizli in which a mother’s use of a slipper was also interpreted as using a weapon. He remains hopeful, however, that the court will overturn the conviction on appeal.