Turkish national handed life sentence for grisly Tel Aviv murder

The Tel Aviv District Court on Sunday sentenced Turkish national Eidan Damirhan to life in prison for the grisly murder and dismemberment of his girlfriend in 2013.

Damirhan, 47, was found guilty of murdering 46-year-old Elona Denis after a heated argument and discarding her severed body parts in suitcases in multiple sites around south Tel Aviv.

The panel of three judges presiding over Sunday’s hearing said the sentence was the maximum statutory penalty they were able to hand down for murder.

Damirhan was also ordered to pay Denis’ daughter, who lives in Romania, damages totaling NIS 258,000 ($66,000)

“Of course no financial compensation can make up for the taking of a life, and even handing down the maximum penalty for this crime outlined by law, is not enough to mitigate the difficult consequences and the tragic loss suffered by the victim’s family for this crime,” the judges wrote in their sentencing.

The judges also said Damirhan’s maximum sentence and the court-ordered compensation was to underscore the “personal responsibility of the defendant to compensate the victim’s family, even if only symbolically.”

According to state prosecutors, on the night of August 3, 2013, Damirhan beat Denis to death after the two argued over paying the rent for their shared apartment. He then used a knife to behead her and chop off her arms and legs.

Damirhan left her torso in a suitcase near the old Central Bus Station and scattered Denis’s other body parts across several dumpsters in the south Tel Aviv area. The head has not been recovered.

Both were registered foreign workers in Israel. Damirhan worked in construction, while Denis had worked as a nurse in a Tel Aviv area hospital up until her death.

Tel Aviv police said they were able to positively identify Denis’s remains relatively easily using the identification information — including fingerprints and biometric details — that all foreign workers are required to provide Israeli authorities.

Damirhan was identified as the prime suspect in the murder with the help of Interpol, who were alerted to the case by a missing persons report filed by members of Denis’ family in Romania.

Family members named Damirhan as her boyfriend, and told the agency the two were dating and shared an apartment.

Several days later, Damirhan was apprehended by Israeli authorities at Ben Gurion Airport attempting to flee to Turkey.

During the investigation, police discovered the knife used to kill Denis at the couple’s apartment, and later said Damirhan connected himself to the site of the murder during questioning.

Though working-class south Tel Aviv, home to a large population of foreign workers and asylum seekers, has seen violent crimes in the past, the discovery of the Denis’s dismembered body shocked the country.