Murder suspect sent to prison for 3 months pending trial

Murder suspect Sefer Buğra Altundağ, who was arrested in connection with the murder of 16-year-old Zehie Helin Reessur in Iskele, was brought before the court again on Friday.

Sefer Buğra Altundağ 21 was brought to the Iskele District Court under tight security measures on Friday.

Sefer is suspected of killing Helin, a 16-year-old schoolgirl on a building site near Long Beach, Iskele in the early hours of January 25.

He fled fled the country to south Cyprus after the incident but surrendered himself to the police there.

He was brought back to north Cyprus and then taken to court on charges of "committal murder", "murder", "grave damage" and "serious beating."

Helin had been battered on the head with a hammer and struck on the throat with a pipe, police report say. The hammer was found in an empty building in the military zone.

Military personnel discovered the discarded hammer and his abandoned jeep near the Derinya border crossing point. South Cyprus police arrested him later that day after he crossed the border, returning him to the authorities in the north.

The judge considered that he was a flight risk and ordered that he be detained for up to three months while forensic evidence is sent to Turkey for examination.