A SINGLE mother accused of trying to kill her severely disabled son walked free after a court heard she would give anything to have him back.
Mustafa ‘Musti’ Mehmetaliogullari, ten, weighed less than 30kg when he was admitted to the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital in Brighton for the final time in September 2018.
Devoted mother Pembe Mehmetaliogullari, 48, raised her adopted son alone after being abandoned by her abusive husband.
The couple had adopted Musti after they were unable to have children.
He had been left in a dustbin in Northern Cyprus after he was born.
When the baby developed medical complications at six months old, her husband, a Cypriot policeman, issued an ultimatum.
"He said it was 'the baby or me'," she said.
She told the jury: “I would never do anything to hurt Musti, he was my life.”
The boy suffered with cerebral palsy, epilepsy and scoliosis, and his complex needs required round-the-clock care.
Even as he slept, Musti had to be checked every 20 minutes.
Mrs Mehmetaliogullari, of Lower Market Street, Hove, was cleared of attempted murder by giving him painkillers prescribed to her in order to hasten his death as he lay dying in the hospital.
A Do Not Resuscitate order meant doctors would not have tried to bring him back.
A tearful Mrs Mehmetaliogullari told the court she could never do anything to hurt her son.
“I just wanted him to be with me,” she said.
Respite care for Mrs Mehmetaliogullari was cancelled days before her son was admitted to hospital and overnight help had been cut back.
She said: “He was what I lived for.
“He was the one thing in my life that made me happy.
“I would do anything to have him here with me."
Lewis Power QC, defending, said his client had been deeply traumatised by the death of her son and by the trial.
He said: “She has said she has nothing left to live for. She is a very sad and lonely figure, ostracised by friends and family. Says her life is empty.”
The jury at Brighton Crown Court found Mrs Mehmetaliogullari guilty of a separate charge of giving Musti her antidepressants in the weeks before his death.
Mrs Mehmetaliogullari will be sentenced next month.
READ MORE: Hove mum accused of attempted murder let down by nursing care, court told
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