Turkish man collected son's birthday cake before killing wife in Kazan
The slain Yelena«s relatives were not present at the hearing
On the day his wife was killed — 34-year-old Yelena Ryabinina in Kazan — Ecfele Mete, a citizen of Turkey and Germany, collected a cake she had ordered for their shared son«s birthday. That day Yelena had planned to meet relatives at a café and celebrate together with the child. This detail was disclosed at trial by a witness.
The witness was a man named Andrey. He works as a pair with his wife: she makes cakes, and he delivers them.
“On 14 May 2025, an order came in through a classifieds website for a children«s cake for 24 May. The customer was Yelena Yuryevna Ryabinina. They ordered a cake for a 3rd birthday, for roughly 10–15 people, weighing 3 kilograms. The main design was racing cars. We accepted the order, and on 23 May we contacted Yelena about delivery. She said that the next morning a person would come and pick it up,” the witness recalled.
That person turned out to be Mete. Yelena warned that he did not speak Russian and gave the make of his car. The defendant arrived for the dessert at 9:12 a.m.
“I arrived — the suspect was there. To establish some contact with him, I said hello in Russian, and he answered in English. I realized he had basic knowledge of English, and I said I would put the cake in the car myself. And, naturally, I showed him the cake. He said he was very pleased that the cake was beautiful. He was friendly, smiling. I put the cake in, and we said goodbye,” the deliveryman said.
Immediately afterward, Andrey wrote to Yelena that the order had been handed over. She asked whether they had forgotten to write “Happy Birthday” on the cake and thanked him.
Mete«s lawyer asked the witness whether the defendant had seemed tense at that moment. Andrey said no — on the contrary, he looked happy and calm.
Ecfele himself asked no questions — he merely stood up, smiled at the courier, and sat back down.
Incidentally, two other important events occurred at the hearing: Mete once again had a new interpreter (this time a man), and he was issued a referral for a medical examination.
Recall that on 24 May 2025, Ecfele Mete came to the apartment of gymnastics school director Yelena Ryabinina in the Volzhskaya Gavan residential complex and, out of jealousy, slit her throat right in front of their 3-year-old son.
He wounded the child in the head as well, then climbed onto the balcony, threatening suicide, but eventually surrendered to police. The man faces a life sentence. During his detention, Ecfele did not admit guilt.
As acquaintances of the couple said, Ecfele often was jealous of his wife toward other men — even if it was only business correspondence. In his view, that was unacceptable. At the same time, he himself actively messaged girls during the marriage, sent them his photos, and even invited them to come to him in Turkey or Germany.
