A popular radio DJ in London was allegedly tortured to death by “sadistic thugs” who inflicted around 94 injuries on him and locked his girlfriend in a bathroom for two days, a court has heard. According to The Independent, 43-year-old Mehmet Koray Alpergin and his girlfriend, Gozde Dalbudak, were kidnapped by six men near Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, last year in October. They were taken to an empty wine bar where Mr Alpergin was allegedly beaten, throttled, scalded with boiling water, stabbed, maimed and violated.
On Wednesday, the jurors were told that the couple was abducted when they were returning home from an Italian restaurant in Mayfair. The assailants had allegedly installed a tracking device on Mr Alpergin’s car, the outlet reported. They were put in separate vehicles and taken to a bar on White Hart Lane. Mr Alpergin’s naked body was later dumped in Essex woodland and his 34-year-old girlfriend spent two days locked in a toilet before being freed.
Six men are now on trial at the Central Criminal Court in London. They are accused of murder, kidnap, false imprisonment and preventing the course of justice.
“It is obvious that before his death Koray Alpergin had been stripped naked and horrifically tortured. From the number and nature of the injuries sustained, the prosecution suggest that it is not hard to envisage a group of sadistic thugs taking it in turns to inflict injury, whether with punches and kicks, hitting him with a bat, scalding him with boiling water, stabbing his feet…” lawyer Crispin Aylett said, according The Telegraph. Mr Aylett also alleged that the attack was connected to “organised crime” and “almost certainly drugs”.
The jurors were told that the 43-year-old was originally from northern Cyprus. He was a well-known figure in the British Turkish community and owner of a Turkish language radio station in London called Bizim FM.
On Wednesday the jurors heard that before his death, Mr Alpergin was not his usual “happy-go-lucky” and that he seemed anxious. He was allegedly in debt, including around $40,000 for his car.
Mr Alpergin’s body was found by a dog walker a few hours after it was dumped in woods on October 15 last year. Mr Aylett said that a post-mortem report identified 94 separate injuries to his body. There were also wounds to the victim’s genitals and an internal injury, the lawyer said.
Steffan Gordon, 34, Tejean Kennedy, 33, Samuel Owusu-Opoku, 35, Junior Kettle, 32, Ali Kavak, 26, and Erdogan Ulcay, 56, have been accused of murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment, and perverting justice.
