A man jailed for killing two teenage girls 28 years after the horror crash will be deported from Australia when he is released this weekend.
Ugur Hallacoglu, 48, was jailed in January over a high-speed car crash which killed two teens at Merrylands, in western Sydney, in May 1990.
The father-of-three avoided prison for almost three decades after a police bungle meant an arrest warrant dating back to 1992 was not issued correctly.
Hallacoglu, who was 18 at the time, was convicted over the crash and received a 10-month jail term but fled to Turkey during his court case.
But authorities caught up with Hallacoglu when he applied for Australian citizenship earlier this year, and the outstanding warrant was discovered.
Hallacoglu’s sentence ends this weekend, at which point he, his wife and three kids will be deported to Turkey – despite having spent the last 15 years living in Sydney.
Ugur Hallacoglu (pictured with his wife) will be deported this weekend when his 10-month jail sentence for killing two teenage girls in a fatal car crash in 1990 ends
Hallacoglu (left, pictured with his son) fled to Turkey before his sentencing
Following her husband’s arrest and imprisonment, Mrs Hallacoglu told Daily Mail Australia she didn’t believe he should be punished for something that happened so long ago.
She also claimed that when her husband returned to Australia in 2005 he was set to hand himself into authorities, but was told he had been pardoned.
‘We knew that they could charge him and he could go to jail, but he went to a lawyer and was told no-one was looking for him about the car crash,’ Mrs Hallacoglu said through her English speaking daughter.
‘We thought everything was fine. He worked at Carpet Call and had a normal life, we had no idea the police would come.
‘When police came he just said: “They’re going to take me to court”.
‘He was very young, only 18. When he did talk about it he was sorry.
‘He is now in his 40s, he shouldn’t have to be punished and judged on what he did as a young boy.’
Court documents seen by Daily Mail Australia show the warrant for his arrest was not entered properly by police.
The mistake was only fixed as checks were being done on Hallacoglu after he applied for Australian citizenship two years ago.
Mr Hallacoglu’s wife (left) told Daily Mail Australia her family was shocked when police came to their house and claims her husband (right) was previously told he was in the clear over the crash
Mr Hallacoglu’s wife claimed that on the rare occasion he talked about the car crash, he was always very remorseful
‘(The) warrant wasn’t originally entered in the court system until recently, after the accused had applied for citizenship,’ the documents state.
On May 14, 1990, Hallacoglu – a P-Plate driver – hired a red car with the intention of taking his brother out for a night of celebrations for his 21st birthday.
Biding time before his brother arrived home from work, Hallacoglu organised with three friends – a boy, 15, and two girls aqed 14 and 16 – to go for a joyride at 3pm.
But close to 40 minutes into their trip the car was detected travelling at an estimated speed of 130km/h through a 60km/h zone.
Witnesses reported seeing the car cross onto the wrong side of the road in an effort to overtake two cars, at which point Hallacoglu lost control.
After fishtailing down the suburban street the car slammed into a power pole, killing one of the girls instantly, while the other died in hospital two days later.
On June 8 1990, more than three weeks after the fatal crash, Hallacoglu was charged with two counts of manslaughter.
The charges were later downgraded to culpable driving causing death, and the case was heard before the NSW District Court in 1991 – where Hallacoglu pleaded guilty.
On December 20, 1991, Hallacoglu was sentenced to two years periodic detention.
The prosecution appealed the leniency of the sentence, and in September 1992 the Court of Criminal Appeal increased his sentence to a minimum 10 months full-time imprisonment.
However Hallacoglu was not in court to hear of his increased sentence, having fled to his homeland Turkey eight days earlier.
A bungle with the arrest warrant meant Mr Hallacoglu had lived freely in Australia since 2005 until police knocked on the door of his family home (pictured) at Merrylands in January 2019
Since arriving back in Australia, Mr Hallacoglu had been living a normal life and even worked as the manager of a Carpet Call franchise (pictured) at a busy Sydney shopping centre
A warrant was subsequently issued for his arrest.
For the next 13 years the convicted double killer lived in his homeland, before returning to Australia in 2005.
He has remained in Australia since then, working at a busy Carpet Call store.
Once Hallacoglu is released from prison he will be turned over to the Australian Border Force (ABF).
A spokesperson for the ABF declined to comment directly on Hallacoglu’s matter but confirmed that non-citizens
‘Once released from prison, non-citizens whose visas have been cancelled are either transferred to immigration detention or removed from Australia,’ a spokesperson said.