Somali President Hasan Sheikh Mohamud has offered condolences by phone to the widow of a motorcycle courier who was killed in a recent traffic accident in İstanbul in which Mohamud’s son was involved, the Voice of America (VOA) Turkish service reported.
The motorcycle courier, Yunus Emre Göçer, 38, was critically injured on November 30 when he was struck from behind on a busy highway in İstanbul by Mohamed Hassan Sheik Mohamud, a son of the Somali president who was driving a vehicle registered to the Somali Consulate in the Fatih district. He succumbed to his injuries in a hospital on December 6.
Somali Defense Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur met with Göçer’s wife, Öznur, at the office of Göçer’s lawyer, İyaz Çimen, in İstanbul on Monday where he offered his condolences. Nur later called the Somali president, who also offered his condolences to Öznur Göçer.
President Mohamud reportedly told Göçer that he is very saddened by the death of her husband, is praying for him and respects the actions to be taken by the Turkish judiciary against his son.
“I am very sorry. My heart is with you. I am very sorry for your loss. We respect Turkey and the Turkish judiciary. Everything will proceed as necessary,” he said.
The president, however, did not say whether his son, who was discovered to have fled Turkey, will return to the country to face trial.
Son Mohamud was taken into police custody following the accident but was released after giving a statement, which received significant backlash, following which a travel ban was imposed on him days after the collision.
However, it turned out that Mohamed Hassan Sheik Mohamud had already fled Turkey on Dec. 2.
President Mohamud told The Associated Press in his first comments about the accident last week that his son didn’t flee Turkey following the accident and that he has advised him to go back and present himself to a court.
“It was an accident. He did not run away, and he hired a lawyer for this purpose,” the president was quoted as saying by AP. “And there was no arrest warrant. … So, he has a business and he came out of the country.”
He said he is urging his son to go back and present himself to the court but adds that he’s an adult and will make the final decision himself.
Lawyer Çimen told VOA that Turkey can’t ask INTERPOL issue a Red Notice for the son of the Somali president due to his involvement in the accident but that he may return to Turkey on his own.
A recent report issued by Turkey’s Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK), based on video footage of the accident, found son Mohamud to be primarily at fault in the accident because he did not brake when necessary or maintain a safe distance when changing lanes, which resulted in a collision with Göçer’s motorcycle.
An initial report drafted by police officers who arrived at the scene of the crash blamed Göçer for the accident.
Meanwhile, Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç told reporters on Tuesday that new video footage of the accident has been found and sent to the ATK for an additional report about the accident.
The minister said based on the additional report to be issued by the ATK, prosecutors will draft an indictment.
Tunç also said last week that he expects the Somali president’s son to soon return to Turkey to stand trial for the fatal accident.
“We’ve had talks with Somali judicial authorities,” Tunç told reporters last Thursday. “It will be possible for the defendant to come to Turkey to stand trial in the coming days.”