The family of Turkish murder victim Pelin Kaya broke their silence after the beginning of the murder trial that will see the man suspected of purposefully driving into and killing the woman face charges.

Outside of a packed courtroom, the uncle, sister and other loved ones of Pelin Kaya tearfully addressed the media, both local and international, gathered outside.

“A part of us has died with Pelin,” they said. 

“She was an intelligent girl with many ambitions. I can’t understand what led to her murder. Justice needs to be done and not a cover-up for her death,” said Kaya’s sister, who went on to say that Pelen’s dreams to live and thrive in Malta have now been snuffed out by murder suspect  Jeremie Camilleri.