Jihadi bride Zehra Duman’s father in crash compo claim
A MAN whose daughter eloped to Syria four years ago to become a Jihadi bride is now fighting the TAC for compensation following a minor car crash days later.
Inner South
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A MAN whose daughter eloped to Syria four years ago to become a Jihadi bride is now fighting the TAC for compensation following a minor car crash days later.
Davut Duman, 51, says he is traumatised and unable to work after a taxi ran into the back of his car at low speed while he was stopped at the corner of St Kilda and Alma roads in St Kilda.
The crash on November 25, 2014, happened just days after his youngest daughter, Zehra Duman, fled to Syria to marry Melbourne party-boy turned Muslim extremist Mahmoud Abdullatif.
Aussie woman, 21, to become Jihadi bride
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Abdullatif was killed in January 2015 while fighting for the Islamic State death cult.
During a two-day hearing in August, the County Court heard Mr Duman had been treated in hospital for severe depression at least twice since the accident and had been “actively suicidal” at times. He also suffers chronic lower back pain.
Several doctors’ reports tendered to the court said while the situation with Mr Duman’s daughter had likely contributed to his mental state, he had since come to terms with her decision and it was the car accident that had left him traumatised.
Psychiatrist Dr Mat Gelman said he believed Mr Duman’s depression had been “entirely caused by the motor vehicle accident”.
“I feel that his condition has nothing to do with his family circumstances, namely the path that his daughter has taken,” the report said.
“He opposed this and was very disturbed by it, however he has grieved this and moved on.
“It does not have relevance to his psychiatric conditions, which appears only associated with his motor vehicle accident.”
In granting Mr Duman leave to apply for damages Judge John Bowman said he agreed the long-term mental health issues had been caused by the accident.
“A major consequence of the accident was that it brought to an immediate end a working life consisting of essentially an uninterrupted period in excess of 30 years,” he said.
“I accept that (Mr Duman) was something of a ‘workaholic’, was proud of the position which he had achieved and … he feels as if he has lost his identity and finds reliance upon government benefits for the first time in his life to be humiliating and significantly upsetting.”
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