Man convicted of toddler killing

Alistair Grimason was killed while he slept in his pram

A Turkish man has been jailed for 36 years after being found guilty of killing a Scottish toddler.

Two-year-old Alistair Grimason was shot while sleeping in his pram on 7 July last year in a café in Foca.

Daimi Akyuz had denied intentionally shooting the toddler but was found guilty by a judge.

Alistair's parents, who travelled to Turkey for the verdict, said he was "a dangerous man and he deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison".

David and Ozlem Grimason, from East Kilbride, have been campaigning for Turkey to tighten its gun laws since their son's death.

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Speaking outside the court, Mr Grimason said: "I just hope that today might act as a deterrent so no family has to go through what we have been through."

Mrs Grimason said: "I think the sentence was right. It is one of the highest ever given for this type of crime, but I don't feel happy today.

"We are still a bit lost. Our plans for the future involved the three of us, but Alistair is gone. I miss him dearly.

"People say time is a healer but I don't know. I will never be able to find forgiveness in my heart for the man who robbed us of our son."

Mr Grimason added: "In the end he's a dangerous man and he deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison."

He said that he and his wife had experienced a lot of highs and lows over the last 12 months.

The worst days

"Sometimes I come home at night and Ozlem has been on her own and has been thinking too much and she's quite depressed and sometimes I am the same," he said.

"The worst days, though, have been when the two of us have been down.

"It's after a year and I still don't fully understand what happened or why it happened to us. We went there to see the family on a harmless holiday and look what happened."

Daimi Akyuz (right) was given the maximum sentence allowed

Mrs Grimason's father Tuncer Essizhan, a lawyer who led the prosecution team, said: "This is a good day for our fight against individuals with guns but we still feel much pain every day."

Akyuz, 32, had admitted causing the death of Alistair but denied murder.

The trial got under way in December, but Monday was the first time that Akyuz spoke in his own defence.

He said: "I didn't kill on purpose. My one fault is showing the gun and people attacked me and grabbed my hand and I regret very much what happened."

After a 10-minute adjournment, judge Serdar Erkut told Akyuz that he would serve "no less than 30 years" for the child's death.

Behind bars

The judge also found the local car salesman and taxi driver guilty of killing mobile phone salesman Ali Bektas during the same gunfight.

Akyuz was sentenced to a total of 58 years, although he will only serve 36 behind bars, the maximum allowed in Turkey.

He was sentenced to 30 years for killing Alistair, 21 years for Ali Bektas and seven years for injuring two other men with a firearm.

The BBC's Turkey Correspondent Jonny Dymond said the jail term was "a very long sentence indeed by Turkish standards".

The main street in the town of Foca has been renamed Ali Star in memory of the toddler.