A 20-year-old carpenter in Turkey is on trial for the death of his 15-year-old apprentice after allegedly forcing a high-pressure air hose into the boy's body, and his defense is that he was kidding around.
Habip Aksoy told a Turkish court he never intended to kill Muhammed Kendirci, the teenage apprentice who died after five days in intensive care with catastrophic internal organ damage. Aksoy testified that the boy was covered in dust and that the compressed air was meant to clean him off. An unidentified friend had first grabbed the boy's hands, and Muhammed's trousers were forcibly pulled down before the hose was used on him.
The incident took place at a carpentry workshop in Bozova, Turkey. Muhammed was admitted to intensive care on November 14, 2025, after his abdomen swelled and he began vomiting. Aksoy and other workers brought him to a hospital, but the damage was already done. The teenager fought for his life for five days before succumbing to his injuries, The Sun reported.
Aksoy now faces a charge translated as "manslaughter with the possible intent against a child." If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Aksoy's courtroom defense amounted to two sentences that will strike most parents as grotesque. He told the court:
"We were joking around at the time. I did not intend to kill him. I regret it."
He also claimed the compressed air was nothing more than a cleaning tool gone wrong.
"He was covered in dust. It happened while I was trying to clean it off."
To bolster his account, Aksoy reportedly released video footage showing him and Muhammed dancing together at the workshop before the incident, an apparent attempt to prove the two were friends and that no malice was involved. Whether a court finds that footage exculpatory or damning remains to be seen.
Prosecutor Tugay Bek did not buy the "joke" defense. He argued that Aksoy should have known what a high-pressure air tool could do to a human body. As reported by the Turkish news outlet Sendika, Bek told the court:
"[Aksoy] should have foreseen that the air tube used as the murder weapon would cause death."
Bek's statements also painted a troubling picture of the workshop itself. He said there were no foremen, no supervisors, just one employer and five workers, all apparently minors or young adults, doing all the labor with no oversight.
"These children do all the work in the workshop. It appears that they did not receive any training on occupational health and safety."
That detail raises its own set of questions. The employer's identity has not been publicly reported. Whether that person faces any charges or regulatory consequences for running a workshop staffed by children without safety training is unknown from available court reporting.
Muhammed's mother, Nebihe Kendirci, attended the hearing alongside relatives and lawyers. She spoke before the proceedings began and left no doubt about what she thinks of the "joke" explanation. She referenced the compressor's operating pressure, 12 bar, roughly 174 pounds per square inch, and called it exactly what it became in her son's case.
"We are pursuing justice so that those who took our child from us with a death machine operating at 12 bar receive the punishment they deserve."
She also issued a broader appeal:
"We call on everyone who cares, children's rights defenders and everyone who believes in justice to join our call. Do not remain silent. We will not stop until justice is served."
Several critical facts remain unclear. The exact date of the assault has not been reported, only that Muhammed entered intensive care on November 14, 2025, and died five days later. The identity of the friend who grabbed the boy's hands before the attack has not been disclosed, nor has it been reported whether that person faces any charges. The name of the court handling the case and the current status of the trial, whether it has been adjourned, is ongoing, or is nearing a verdict, are also unreported.
Perhaps the most glaring gap involves the workshop's owner. Prosecutor Bek made clear that children were doing all the work without safety training. Yet no reporting indicates that the employer has been charged with anything. A 15-year-old boy is dead, and the only person in the dock is the 20-year-old who held the hose.
Accountability that stops at the lowest rung of the ladder is not accountability at all, it is convenience dressed up as justice.
