A popular radio DJ was kidnapped and brutally tortured to death by a group of "sadistic thugs" before they left his body to rot in the woods, a court heard.
Koray Alpergin was walking home from a restaurant in Mayfair in London, with girlfriend Gozde Dalbudak when they were both kidnapped in October 2022. Mr Alpergin, a high profile DJ who owns Turkish radio station Bizim FM, was taken to a restaurant yards from Tottenham Hotspurs' stadium on White Hart Lane where he endured 94 harrowing injuries, reports the Mirror.
Ms Dalbudak, 34, was meanwhile locked in a toilet for two days at the eatery. The body of 43-year-old Mr Alpergin, a prominent figure in the community with links to rapper P Diddy and celeb chef 'Salt Bae', was later dumped in woodland in the Essex area.
A dog walker found his naked corpse, which included 14 broken ribs, serious head injuries, ligature injuries to his neck and injuries to his private parts, the Old Bailey heard.
Four men were convicted in December last year over the kidnap while another two fled the UK and remain at large, a court heard. Two others are now on trial accused of being involved in the kidnap and killing.
Isay Stoyanov, 43, and Dylan Weatherley, 20, are accused of murdering Mr Alpergin, two counts of kidnap and two counts of false imprisonment at court, which they denied. Jurors were told that another man, Kyle Mitchell-Peart, 31, has admitted two counts of kidnapping and two counts of false imprisonment.
Crispin Aylett, KC, prosecuting, told the court on Monday, July 9: "On the evening of Thursday 13 October 2022, getting on to two years ago, the victims in the case, Mehmet Koray Alpergin and his girlfriend, Gozde Dalbudak went to an expensive restaurant in Mayfair in central London. As Koray Alpergin got out of his Audi car, a man ran towards him, that man was followed by three others, although Mr Alpergin tried to run away, they quickly caught him.
"He was frogmarched past his own car and bundled into a white van parked nearby. Ms Dalbudak had remained in the car, she was later to tell the police that she heard the sound of a scuffle. A masked man appeared at the window of the car, he had a knife, he told Ms Dalbudak to be quiet."
Mr Aylett added: "She got out of the car and he led her over to the van. The van was driven away with Mr Alpergin and Ms Dalbudak in the back. The prosecution suggest that no less than eight men had driven in two vehicles, a white van and a Volkswagen Polo.
"The occupants of those two vehicles had waited for Mr Alpergin's Audi to arrive. Four men were convicted of the kidnap of Koray Alpergin and Gozde Dalbudak. Two other men have fled the country, they are believed to be in Turkey. The seventh man was Kyrie Mitchell-Peart."
Jurors heard that a tracking device had been placed on the car allowing the group to follow the vehicle. Having waited and kidnapped both Mr Alpergin and Ms Dalbudak, the two vehicles drove back to the Tottenham area, arriving at around 11.20pm that night. The van went down an alleyway, which was connected to the back of a restaurant named Stadium Lounge.
"It was here, in the Stadium Lounge, that Koray Alpergin was murdered," Mr Aylett continued. "As for Godze Dalbudak, she spent almost two days shut up inside a lavatory at the Stadium Lounge. The door to the lavatory was blocked by a large refrigerator. It was not until late on the Saturday afternoon, Ms Dalbudak was released.
"In the early hours of Saturday, the Renault Megane was driven to Loughton in Essex. There, the naked body of Koray Alpergin was dumped in some woods. A few hours afterwards, the man's body was found by a dog walker." The subsequent post mortem revealed the nature of the injuries Mr Alpergin had suffered, with several cuts and bruises, stab wounds to the soles of both of his feet, and scalding injuries to his skin added to the more severe head, chest and neck injuries.
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Mr Aylett added: "From the number and nature of the injuries that were sustained, the prosecution suggest that it is not hard to envisage a group of sadistic thugs taking it turns to inflict injury, whether with punches and kicks, hitting him with a bat, scalding him with boiling water or stabbing his feet.
"The only mercy, if mercy it be, was that the pathologist considers that Koray Alpergin could not have survived these terrible injuries for very long and certainly not for more than a few hours." The court heard how Mr Alpergin had been expecting trouble for some time. On 24 September 2022, he and a friend were driving back to his address in separate cars.
Mr Alpergin told his friend that his car was making "odd noises" to which his friend asked: "Are you sure your car was not bugged?" It turned out that the tracking device was fitted to his car just the day before, the court heard. As his friend was leaving later that evening, he asked them to let him know if there was a white van parked outside. "Koray Alpergin must have had some idea of what was in store for him," said Mr Aylett.
The trial continues.
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