Last Photo Taken on Cliff... Husband Pushed Wife to Claim Insurance Money

Husband Arrested on Charges of Killing Wife
Wife's Family Says "Husband Doesn't Even Seem Sad"

A photo taken just before the incident at the cliff by Hakan Aysal (left, 40) and his wife Semra Aysal (32). Photo by Turkish News.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-ju] In Turkey, a man pushed his pregnant wife off a 300-meter cliff, resulting in her death.

On the 10th (local time), according to local media, the Turkish prosecution indicted Hakan Aysal (40) on charges of murder committed to claim insurance money registered under his wife's name. Hakan, who has been brought to trial, denies the charges.

Hakan is accused of pushing his wife, Semra Aysal (32), who was seven months pregnant, off a cliff in Butterfly Valley, Mugla Province, southwestern Turkey, in June 2018, three years ago.

The couple, who were on vacation, climbed the cliff, a popular photo spot, to take pictures. They stayed there for about three hours.

Suddenly, Semra fell from the 300-meter-high cliff, and her husband Hakan called the rescue team.

Hakan said, "My wife asked me to take her phone out of her bag, so I went down the cliff. While going down, I heard a scream from behind. When I came back, my wife was gone."

The search and rescue team dispatched after receiving the report found Semra and the baby in her womb dead.

Investigators suspected that Hakan, who often argued with his wife over financial issues, killed her to claim the life insurance money.

During the investigation, it was confirmed that Hakan had taken out three loans totaling 119,000 Turkish lira (about 19 million KRW) under his deceased wife's name.

In particular, suspicion arose because Hakan changed the beneficiary of the personal accident insurance of 400,000 Turkish lira (about 63 million KRW), which was registered under his wife's name before the incident, to himself. Hakan claimed the insurance money immediately after her death.

The fact that the couple stayed on the cliff for three hours also raised doubts. The deceased wife's younger sister testified, "Hakan usually has acrophobia. I don't know if he could have stayed on the cliff for that long." The prosecution speculated that the husband waited for the area to be deserted to kill his wife.

Eventually, Hakan was arrested in November last year on murder charges.

Regarding changing the insurance beneficiary to himself, Hakan stated, "I received the documents from the staff and gave them to my wife. I didn't know there was such a clause."

As for staying on the cliff for three hours despite having acrophobia, he explained, "I started to take an interest in extreme sports since 2014, before the incident."