The family of a man allegedly stabbed to death by his sleepwalking wife has vowed to continue their fight for justice after the murder charge against her was dropped.
Serdar Caliskan, 50, died in September 2023 at Mount Disappointment in Victoria’s north, when his wife Ilknur, 47, allegedly stabbed him in the heart.
But the case against the mother-of-two was abandoned in February, just weeks before it was due to go to trial in the Victorian Supreme Court.
Now Mr Caliskan’s family say they won’t stay silent and claim there was never any mention of a sleep disorder in 26 years of marriage prior to the tragedy.
Ms Caliskan’s legal team had previously flagged she suffered from parasomnia, a sleep disorder which had allegedly caused her to climb out of a car-top tent, down a ladder, walk through the bush, pick up a knife and stab her husband to death.
But his furious family say they don’t accept that and want a change in the law to prevent anyone from using sleep disorders as a defence in court.
‘It is a dangerous precedent that allows individuals to say they have a sleep disorder which can then allow them to escape accountability for violent crimes,’ his brother Muzaffer told Daily Mail .
‘Serdar Caliskan was a father, a brother, a son. He was a person who deserved justice, not to be brushed aside as an inconvenient case.
‘We were never told what exactly happened the night Serdar was brutally killed. The justice we wanted was never considered.’
Mr Caliskan was found dead inside a car at Clonbinane, north of Melbourne.
Ms Caliskan had driven 20km to the nearest town to raise help, but paramedics were unable to save the father of two.
She told police she didn’t know what had happened, but detectives alleged it could only have been her who fatally stabbed her husband.
Ms Caliskan was arrested, charged and thrown behind bars.
At home in Turkey, Muzaffer Caliskan was given the devastating news of his brother’s death in a bizarre phone call.
‘His ex co-worker called us and told us Serdar fell on a knife and that he was dead,’ he said.
‘We questioned it, how can someone fall on a knife? Then we were told [his wife] had too much alcohol to drink and [allegedly] stabbed him to death.
The family say they put their trust in the justice system but were shocked when Ms Caliskan was later released on bail without their knowledge to undergo a sleep study in Sydney.
‘We didn’t even hear about sleepwalking until seven months after the incident when she applied for bail,’ he recalled.
‘Serdar never told us anything about her having any such disorders.’
The pair had met in 1999 via an arranged marriage.
Ms Caliskan was friends with a cousin of her husband and newly divorced from her first spouse after a relationship which Muzaffer says had only lasted a few months.
‘She was friends with our cousin and was just divorced from her first husband,’ he said.
‘They got introduced over the phone, started chatting online and then she came to Turkey, and they got married in Turkey and she took Serdar back to .’
The couple made regular visits to Europe to stay with family for weeks at a time after their marriage.
Their last trip home was just ten days before the horrific tragedy which killed Mr Caliskin.
‘The last time we saw her she was acting strange. She was doing things she never did before, like going out alone without Serdar.
‘That caught our eye, but the strangest was one of the couples that were camping with them that night were also in Turkey in a different state, and they went to visit them and stayed with them for a week.
‘One day we went sightseeing and the most upsetting thing is that all the photos we took were on his phone which he was going to send to us when he got back to , but never had the chance.’
It’s been almost two years since Mr Caliskin’s death but the family have yet to receive a satisfactory explanation as to what exactly happened that evening.
‘We have asked for the files from the Coroner under Freedom of Information, and from Office of Public Prosecution,’ said Muzaffer.
‘We demand to know exactly what happened to Serdar that night by account of every witness present and Ilknur’s own statement.
‘We need a comprehensive report detailing every piece of investigation that has been put towards this case.
‘And we require confirmation of whether any investigation was conducted into potential marital issues and infidelity including any examination of text messages or other communications.
‘We also demand to see all witness accounts and the complete expert reports that were used to make the decision to drop the charges.’
They insist they will not stop until they receive justice and have launched a petition asking for urgent law reforms around sleep disorders and violent crimes.
‘We refuse to accept this decision and we will ensure that every n knows his name and the injustice he suffered,’ he said.
‘When Ilknur got bail, that killed him for the second time in our eyes and when the charge was dropped, that killed him all over again.’