A Turkish man has been indicted for reportedly pushing his pregnant wife off a cliff in order to collect accident insurance worth up to TRY 400,000 (S$76,100), Turkish media reported.

Supposedly waited for three hours to push his wife off the cliff

The indictment was made by the Fethiye High Criminal Court on Feb. 8, with prosecutors seeking to charge 40-year-old Hakan Aysal for premediated murder over the incident, which happened at the Butterfly Valley in Fethiye on Jun. 19, 2018.

The indictment stated:

"He took his seven-month pregnant wife (Semra Aysal) to the Butterfly Valley in Fethiye where they were supposed to be on vacation. They sat there for about three hours during which the defendant waited for a moment when there weren't people around."

Hurriyet Daily News reported that Hakan Aysal then called emergency services afterwards, resulting in search and rescue teams being deployed to the area.

Both his wife and unborn were subsequently pronounced dead after their discovery.

Claimed that wife had fallen when he was not looking

Prior to the indictment, Hakan Aysal had pleaded innocent on the matter and claimed that his wife had fallen when he was not looking.

He was quoted by Turkish daily Sabah as saying:

"After taking a photo, my wife put the phone in her bag. Later she asked me to give her the phone. I got up and then heard my wife scream behind me when I walked a few steps away to get the phone from her bag."

Set up the insurance shortly before wife's death

The prosecution also noted that Hakan Aysal had supposedly set up the insurance shortly before her death and made himself its sole beneficiary.

After the incident, he headed to the insurance company to claim the money but was unable to do so as investigations were still ongoing.

The prosecution has since demanded that Hakan Aysal face life imprisonment.

Meanwhile, the brother of Semra Aysal was quoted by The Sun as saying in court that her husband did not show any emotion when they collected the body from forensic authorities.

"My family and I were destroyed, but Hakan did not even appear sad," her brother said.

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