A 11-year-old girl in the southeastern Turkish province of Şanlıurfa who stole warm clothes for her four siblings because they were wearing T-shirts in cold weather could be sent to a juvenile detention center if found guilty, the Evrensel daily reported on Tuesday.
The girl, mistakenly listed as 15 on her ID card and identified only by the initials N.U., stole the clothes from a store in the Ceylanpınar district for her 5-year-old quadruplet siblings.
If the owner of the store does not withdraw his complaint against the child, N..U. could spend three to five years in the detention center.
The child stole four items of clothing, each of which had a price tag of TL10, less than $2.
N.U., who testified to a prosecutor at the Ceylanpınar Courthouse, said she had to steal the clothes for her siblings because the family cannot afford to buy warm clothes for them.
The girl said she was chased by the shop owner after stealing the clothes and left them in the street because she regretted what she had done.
N.U.’s father H.U. told Evrensel that he was a janitor at the Ceylanpınar Municipality but was recently fired from his job and does not know the reason. The father said he is having financial problems and is very much saddened by the prospect of his daughter going to the detention center.