Scarlett Keeling

Goa, March 13: British teen Scarlett Keeling was raped and left to die by barman Samson D’Souza, Goa police said today claiming to have solved a case that has made headlines in two countries.

D’Souza, 29, bartender with Lui’s Café on the Anjuna beach, was arrested on March 9 in connection with the February 18 murder of 15-year-old Scarlett. He has now been charged with rape and murder based on his own confessions, inspector-general of police Kishan Kumar said.

He said a drug dealer named Placido Carvalho, detained yesterday, had been charged with facilitating the crime. Carvalho, known locally as Shanna Boy, is accused of helping D’Souza drug the victim with LSD, Ecstasy and cocaine.

Keeling’s mother Fiona MacKeown brushed the police claims away, saying: “This is an extension of the original cover-up by the police. We want a CBI investigation.”

Fiona claims the police are shielding influential people.

IGP Kumar denied any political connection to the crime. He said Scarlett, heavily drunk, had arrived alone at Lui’s Café around 3am on February 18. She stumbled while climbing the stairs.

“She went to the counter, said hello to everyone and started talking to Samson. It is clear from witness statements and Samson’s confession that he had evil designs on the girl from the moment he saw her,” Kumar said.

Samson and Carvalho took Scarlett into the kitchen where she drank more alcohol and took drugs, Kumar said. Around 4am, Samson and Scarlett stepped out. Soon, the customers began leaving.

“Two witnesses who left around 4.45am and 5am saw Samson and Scarlett having sex near the parking lot. Scarlett was lying underneath without any movement, so the witnesses presumed the sex was consensual. She was possibly drugged,” Kumar said.

Samson took Scarlett to the beach where they sat on deckchairs for a while before entering the water.

“Samson sexually assaulted her again and noticed she had fainted. We presume the girl was unconscious because of over-exhaustion, drugs and sexual assault. She was half-dead. Samson saw a man approaching with a torch, dumped her and ran away,” Kumar said.

He said Scarlett probably drowned since she was left in the water, but left it vague how much impact the drug overdose and sexual assault had on her death. “We have charged Carvalho with common intention and facilitating the murder by overdose of drugs.”

The police had claimed after the first autopsy that Scarlett had drowned but Fiona alleged a cover-up. A second post-mortem mentioned injuries on the girl’s body and the police lodged a murder case.

Kumar said the department had found the original investigating officer guilty of “procedural lapses” and ordered his suspension.