The man who shot and killed an East Kilbride toddler in a Turkish café 14 years ago has been shot dead at his own wedding.
Daimi Akyuz was gunned down on Saturday as he stepped out for a cigarette just six days after he had been released early from prison for the killing of two-year-old Alistair Grimason.
The tot’s dad David, a fervent campaigner for tighter gun controls, this week said he “took no joy” from the fatal shooting of his son’s killer.
Akyuz, a 46-year-old former car salesman, had been jailed for life for killing Alistair in the Aegean seaside town of Foca in 2003.
A stray bullet hit the toddler as he slept in a pushchair next to his Turkish-born mother Ozlem Essizhan after a fight over a mobile phone broke out nearby.
Akyuz was shot when a man reportedly wearing a hood approached the groom and opened fire.
The News understands police have launched a murder investigation and are questioning five people in relation to the incident.
Commenting on the death, David, from Greenhills, said that he didn‘t take any joy in what happened as the man who killed his child is now dead after serving less than half of his sentence.
The 47-year-old, who has campaigned alongside Oxfam and the wider Control Arms coalition for new global rules ever since the tragedy, said: “I was told that he was at his wedding and stepped outside for a cigarette and someone came along and shot him.
“I don‘t want to see anyone lose their life, especially in those sort of circumstances. It is ironic – he was not scared to use guns and that is how he was killed himself, but I don‘t want to see that. We campaigned for a long time about gun crime in Turkey.
“Some people might feel I should be pleased that he has been killed but I don‘t take any comfort from that at all. I almost feel sorry for him in a way, or certainly for his family. He had two children and they have lost their father.
“I don‘t take any joy in what has happened.”
David learned of the heartbreaking news that his son had been killed after returning home from a night shift, when his wife called him in tears.
At the time David was back at home in Scotland, having left his wife with her relatives a few days earlier.
Alistair had been having dinner with his mother and grandmother when he was fatally wounded.
A judge found Akyuz guilty of deliberately killing the toddler and guilty of murdering Ali Bektas, a mobile salesman. Two other men were seriously injured in the shooting.
He was sentenced to a total of 58 years in prison, although he was only ever expected to spend 36 years behind bars – the maximum allowed in Turkey.
Akyuz was released from jail a few weeks ago, having served less than half of his sentence.
Alistair‘s family were not told the killer had been freed, and David only learned Akyuz had been murdered after a family friend from Turkey got in touch through Facebook.
Ozlem, 38, who has since split from Alistair’s dad, admitted she was “relieved” to hear about Akyuz’s murder as it means she no longer needs to fear bumping into him.
She said: “If I knew he was living in the same city with me and my family, and we could have bumped into each other, it would have been a daily torture.
“I can say this is somehow a relief. Our life is already very hard since we lost Alistair. At least I’ll never have to think about that man. I’m not happy nor sad.
“I would much prefer he was in prison getting punished for what he has done.”
David said that when Akyuz was sentenced, the authorities had assured him that his son‘s killer would serve the full 36 years in prison.
“I don‘t understand why they would let out anyone who was as dangerous as he was”, he said. “The first thing I felt was a bit of anger that he was out of prison. Thirteen-and-a-half years is about a third of the sentence he was supposed to have served.
“We always had that little peace of mind that he was being punished for his crime. That was his punishment – to be in jail.”
David added: “Alistair is always with us and we will always think about him. He didn‘t get to enjoy life. The whole thing is just horrible.”
