Man who assaulted wife released, man who intervened in legal trouble

ISTANBUL

This combined image shows Emre Derebaşı (L) and the security camera footage in which he is seen punching Mehmet T., who had assaulted his wife on the street.

After intervening to prevent a man from beating his wife on a street in Istanbul on May 30, a cleaning worker was praised on social media but was later questioned by police while the woman’s husband was released.

“The man told police he was not beating his wife and that she had merely put on an act by throwing herself to the ground. He also filed a complaint against me for beating him. The prosecutor has released him but I have been questioned by police. This is what has offended me the most,” Emre Derebaşı, 29, told daily Habertürk on June 1.

Derebaşı was on his regular cleaning duty in Istanbul’s Kağıthane district on Wednesday morning when he spotted a couple arguing in the street. The argument quickly escalated into a fight in which the man, identified as Mehmet T., violently assaulted his wife with rolls of papers in his hand as they were returning from a divorce hearing in court.

Spotting the assault, Derebaşı intervened and head-butted the man. Other passersby also reacted quickly and prevented the man from running away by holding him while calling the police.

Derebaşı reportedly said he first thought the man was beating the woman with a stick.

“That’s why I directly intervened. Perhaps it was a little bit harsh. I have no regrets. I did my duty as a human being. I am against violence but I could not stand by and watch as the victim was a woman. I would do it again if it happens again,” he told the newspaper.