Delay in toddler shooting verdict

Alistair Grimason was killed while he slept in his pram in Izmir

The parents of a toddler killed in a shoot-out in a Turkish café must wait longer to hear the outcome of the trial of a man accused of the murder.

Alistair Grimason's parents David and Ozlem had flown to Turkey for the end of the trial of Daimi Akyuz.

However, the couple learned on Friday that the trial in Izmir has been adjourned until 2 July.

Akyuz had denied intentionally shooting the youngster from East Kilbride on 7 July last year.

Two-year-old Alistair was sleeping in his pram in the Aegean resort of Foca when he was killed.

His parents flew to Turkey from Glasgow on Wednesday for the end of the trial.

As well as the alleged murder of the child, Akyuz has also been accused of murdering a man in the cafe and injuring two others.

I just hope that justice is done and we can move on David Grimason

Speaking before the adjournment, 32-year-old Mr Grimason said: "We want to move on. This has been a nightmare. This has been exhausting, emotionally as well as physically.

"I keep going through it in my head and saying 'if only we hadn't come here at that time, if only we could have come in the May instead of leaving it until July'. There are so many ifs.

"Life has been difficult for us both. All our plans revolved around Alistair and now, now it's all changed."

Under Turkish law, Akyuz could be sentenced straight away for up to 60 years, although the maximum he would serve is 35 years.

David Grimason said "life has been difficult for us both"

In December, he told the court how he pulled a gun on a man during an argument in the café and that a round hit the toddler.

But he claimed he did not intentionally fire in the toddler's direction and that the two men had grabbed his arm.

He said that, as a result, the hand holding the gun swung in all directions as the bullets came out, therefore killing Alistair.

But in April this year forensic evidence presented by the prosecution team proved that there was no gunshot residue on any part of the other men's bodies or any part of their clothing, suggesting that they could not have grabbed Mr Akyuz's arm.

During the hearing the judge changed the charge from unintentional murder to murder.

At the end of last year, Mr and Mrs Grimason travelled to the country's capital Ankara to meet the leader of the opposition party and to present him with a petition of almost 200,000 names calling for the tightening of gun laws in Turkey.