Sept. 23: A Goa court today acquitted two suspects accused of raping British teenager Scarlett Keeling and leaving her to die in 2008, prompting her anguished and angry mother to describe the CBI as "either incompetent or corrupt".
"I am devastated," Fiona MacKeown, who flew into Goa from the UK for the verdict, told a media conference in Panaji immediately after a children's court found Samson D'Souza and Placido Carvalho not guilty.
MacKeown said the local police were "corrupt". "Right from the beginning I knew that the local police did not want to prosecute the killers. It took a huge effort from me even to get the police to register a complaint," she said.
Scarlett's bruised body was found on the popular Anjuna beach in north Goa on February 18, 2008, four days after the 15-year-old went for a Valentine's Day beach party while the rest of her family members were travelling in other parts of the country.
The police initially declared that the death was because of accidental drowning. But pushed by MacKeown and her local lawyers, a second autopsy found the presence of ecstasy, cocaine and LSD, a psychedelic drug known for its psychological effects, in the teenager's body.
The CBI, which was asked to take over the probe following repeated appeals from the girl's family, had charged the two accused in March 2010 under Sections 304 (II) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 354 (assault or use of criminal force on a woman with an intent to outrage her modesty) and 328 (administrating a stupefying drug with an intent to cause hurt) of the IPC.
The CBI's case strongly relied on a prime witness, a British citizen named Michael Mannion, but his refusal to appear before the court in person during the trial apparently weakened the case.
The CBI investigating officers went twice to the UK to meet Mannion and convince him to testify before the court but he refused to come to India, citing security reasons. He had told Goa police he had seen D'Souza lying on top of the 15-year-old Scarlett in a shack where she had been partying.
Mannion had also told the police that he had seen the other accused, Placido Carvalho, along with Scarlett that fateful evening.
The CBI's attempt to make him depose before the court via video with the help of the Indian embassy in London also failed to materialise since Mannion was reportedly suffering from a medical condition.
The two accused had persistently denied the charges. Today, D'Souza told reporters outside the court: "I am happy with the verdict. Justice has prevailed."
"We are awaiting the text of the judgment; we will be able to comment only after we get the copy on Monday and decide on the future course," CBI counsel Eijaz Khan told The Telegraph.
Scarlett's mother later told the reporters that she had some hope in the CBI. "It is clear that they are either incompetent or corrupt and I don't believe that they are incompetent," she said.
MacKeown said if international tourists came to Goa and were murdered, they would have no hope that justice would be delivered. The case had drawn international attention as British citizens used to form the largest number of tourists visiting Goa.
"The medical evidence confirmed that my daughter was grievously raped and murdered," MacKeown added.
Goa chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar termed the judgment "unfortunate" but said it would not hamper the image of the coastal state.
"I have just heard about the verdict, I have not gone through the entire judgment. I feel the outcome of the verdict is heartbreaking, it is very unfortunate. Unless I go through the judgment, I would not be in a position to detail my reaction," he said.
"It is a heartbreaking judgment.... I feel that such an outcome of the case needs to be challenged in the higher court," the chief minister added.
