Last October, Mehmet Koray Alpergin and his fiancée were abducted as they returned home from a restaurant in Mayfair, central London.
A prominent radio DJ was tortured to death outside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium by “sadistic thugs,” a court heard, in a killing that bore the markings of major organised crime.
According to the Old Bailey, Mehmet Koray Alpergin and his fiancée were taken as they returned home from an upscale Italian restaurant in Mayfair, central London, last October.
They were escorted to an empty wine bar on White Hart Lane, where Mr Alpergin, 43, was allegedly beaten, choked, scalded with hot water, stabbed, maimed and molested.
His body was later discovered in Essex woodland, and his 34-year-old girlfriend, Gozde Dalbudak, was kept in a toilet for two days before being released, jurors were told.
”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”
Six men are on trial at the Old Bailey, accused of murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment, and perverting the course of justice, among other things.
Crispin Aylett KC, who presided over their trial on Wednesday, stated, “It is obvious that before his death, Koray Alpergin had been stripped naked and horrifically tortured.”
“The prosecution suggests that it is not difficult to imagine a group of sadistic thugs taking turns inflicting injury, whether with punches and kicks, hitting him with a bat, scalding him with boiling water, stabbing his feet…”
Jurors were told that Mr Alpergin, who was born in northern Cyprus, was a well-known and popular figure in the British Turkish community and the owner of Bizim FM, a Turkish language radio station in London.
Jurors heard that before his death, he appeared worried and on edge rather than his normal “happy-go-lucky” personality.
Last September 24, the day after a tracker was installed in his Audi, a friend joked about being bugged since his automobile was making strange noises. Jurors were told that instead of laughing, he became very quiet.
He was also alleged to be significantly in debt, with a slew of claims against him, including a £32,405 Audi loan.
His assailants allegedly waited for him and Ms Dalbudak on the evening of October 13, last year, after one of them implanted the tracking device.
Mr Alpergin, a father of two, was allegedly bundled into a white van as they returned home to Enfield, north London, while Ms Daldudak was allegedly brought over to the vehicle by a masked knifeman.
According to jurors, the van and two cars sped out in convoy to a passageway in Tottenham’s White Hart Lane that led to the back of the Stadium Lounge wine bar.
“It was here, in the Stadium Lounge, that Koray Alpergin was murdered,” Mr Aylett claimed.
“As for Godze Dalbudak, she spent nearly two days locked up inside the Stadium Lounge’s lavatory.” She was not released until late Saturday afternoon, October 15th.”
In any case, this was a heinous act in which a significant number of people were involved.
Mr Alpergin’s naked body was moved to Loughton, Essex, where it was abandoned in woods on October 15 and discovered a few hours later by a dog walker.
According to Mr. Aylett, a post-mortem examination revealed 94 individual injuries to his body, which was covered in cuts and bruises.
“He had sustained what must have been a hefty blow to his head, which had in fact caused brain damage,” the prosecution added.
“He had neck injuries consistent with the use of a ligature to strangle him.”He had 14 fractured ribs, and the linear pattern of the bruising on his chest suggested a baseball bat.”also had a number of skin injuries consistent with having been scalded with boiling water,and the soles of both feet had been stabbed with something sharp.”
”The prosecution claims that Koray Alpergin was kidnapped and tortured either to punish him for something he did or to get him to give up something he knew… and that his kidnappers also wanted to know.”
Mr Aylett added that the victim had genital wounds as well as an abdominal injury.
“This was, in any case, a terrible crime in which a large number of people participated,” he told jurors.
It was claimed that the usage of automobiles with phoney number plates that were afterwards burned out showed “all the hallmarks of being linked to serious, organised crime – almost certainly drugs.”
“The prosecution alleges that Koray Alpergin was kidnapped and tortured either so that he might be punished for something he had done or so that he might be forced to give up something that he knew – perhaps the whereabouts of either drugs or money – and which his kidnappers also wanted to know,” Mr Aylett told jurors.
Tejean Kennedy, 33, of Cricklewood Broadway, and Steffan Gordon, 34, of Northolt Junior Kettle, 32, of Archway, and Samuel Owusu-Opoku, 35, of Wood Green In the dock are Ali Kavak, 26, of Tottenham, and Erdogan Ulcay, 56, of Camden.
Gordon, Kennedy, Owusu-Opoku, Kettle, and Kavak all reject the charges of murder and false imprisonment.
Gordon confirms that Kennedy, Owusu-Opoku, Kettle, and Kavak admitted to kidnapping the two victims.
Ulcay and Kavak also deny perverting the course of justice by allegedly disposing of Mr Alpergin’s body and setting fire to two vehicles. Owusu-Opoku has pleaded guilty to the accusation.
The trial before Judge Sarah Whitehouse KC is still ongoing.
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