A waiter accused of murdering two Irish women in Turkey last year will be tried as an adult.
A court in Izmir has accepted medical evidence that shows Recep Cetin is not a juvenile, as he claimed, but an adult.
The bodies of Marion Graham and Cathy Dinsmore, from Newry in Co Down, were found at an isolated woodland, overlooking Izmir.
They had both been stabbed to death.
Recep Cetin, who was in a relationship with Ms Graham's then 15-year-old daughter Shannon, has already told a preliminary hearing that he was responsible but claimed he was 17-years-old.
However, bone marrow tests have shown he is more than 22-years-old and therefore faces a much longer prison sentence if he is found guilty on the murder charge.
His father, Eyup Cetin, has also been accused of murder, but denies involvement.
The lawyer for the Graham and Dinsmore families, Baris Kaska, has said he was physically threatened and verbally abused on leaving the Izmir courthouse this morning.
Eyup Cetin appeared in court earlier this year, however an administrative error meant Recep was not called from prison for the hearing.
In August 2011, Ms Graham, her daughter Shannon and Ms Dinsmore had been staying in the resort town of Kusadasi.
When Shannon went on a boating trip, Ms Graham and Ms Dinsmore went shopping with Recep Cetin to Izmir, 100km away.
Their bodies were later found in a wood on a hill overlooking the city.
An indictment revealed a so-far secret witness who claims to have seen Eyup Cetin at the crime scene. DNA evidence on a shoe also suggested that a member of the Cetin family was there.
However, a defence lawyer for Mr Cetin has told the court there are contradictions in the testimony of the witness.
The case will return to the Izmir court on 9 November, when the witness is due to be questioned by both prosecution and defence counsel from behind a screen.
