23 May 2007

Wuppertal, Germany (dpa) - A 42-year-old man with ingrained traditional Turkish views was jailed for 54 months in Germany for the attempted manslaughter of his teenaged daughter after a row over family "honour."

The girl, 16, had been forced to marry and later rebelled. Witnesses described how her father lifted her over a fourth-storey balcony, with another family member prising apart her grip on the rail, and threw her down.

She survived the fall onto a garage roof. The family had accused the daughter of being "dishonourable" because she opposed her father's will, the court in the city of Wuppertal was told.

Passing judgement, a state court judge told the accused he lived in a "parallel world" dominated by Turkish concepts although he was the third generation of a family that had resettled in Germany.

"Equal rights between men and women was an alien word to him," said the judge. "It is a miracle this girl survived."

He slammed city of Wuppertal family welfare officials for not helping the girl though they knew about the family and that she needed urgent psychological help.

After similar cases in the past, German politicians have called for draconian punishment for "honour killings."

The accused denied the charges and said his daughter was trying to commit suicide and he had been restraining her. But witnesses said she was desperately clutching the rail. The court was unable to identify which family member had dislodged her hands.

The girl testified her father had said, "I'll kill you," as he hurled her 9 metres deep. She said the family pressurized her to alter her testimony, but she would not. Her own lawyer said Tuesday she was now in danger of revenge attacks by relatives.

DPA

Subject: German news