bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

A court in India cleared two men Friday accused of the rape and homicide of 15-year-old British schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling whose bruised and semi-nude body was found on a Goa beach eight years ago.
Friends and relatives of the two accused, Samson D’Souza and Placido Carvalho, cheered as the verdict was read out in the state capital Panaji.
But Scarlett’s mother Fiona MacKeown said she was devastated by the outcome and promised to fight to overturn the verdict.
“I am reeling. It’s been eight years of agony. I feel devastated and will definitely be challenging the verdict,” she told reporters outside the court.
“We had been waiting all this time and it’s just rubbish. India’s whole judicial system has totally let me down,” she added.
I am reeling. India’s whole judicial system has totally let me down
Fiona MacKeown, Scarlett’s mother
“Somebody murdered my daughter in this country and somebody must be held accountable.”
D’Souza and Carvalho had been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, using force with intent to outrage a woman’s modesty and of administering drugs with intent to harm.
But they both broke into smiles as Judge Vandana Tendulkar told the packed courtroom: “I find them not guilty of all charges.”
Scarlett’s body was found on the popular Anjuna beach in the north of the small Indian tourist state, popular with Western hippies.

The teenager’s death in 2008 became international news, shining a spotlight on the seedy side of the resort destination and also drawing attention to India’s sluggish justice system.
Five years on and no justice from India for British teen rape victim
Police initially dismissed her death as an accidental drowning but opened a murder investigation after MacKeown pushed for a second autopsy which proved she had been drugged and raped.
It showed that Keeling had suffered more than 50 injuries to her body.

The trial began in 2010 but was dogged by numerous delays, including hearings of just one afternoon a month due to a backlog of cases and a public prosecutor withdrawing from proceedings.
A key witness, Briton Michael Mannion, known as “Masala Mike”, also refused to testify, dealing a huge blow to the prosecution’s case.
He had initially spoken of seeing D’Souza lying on top of Keeling on the beach shortly before she died.

MacKeown and her family were on a six-month holiday to India when she, Keeling and her other daughters went on an excursion to the southern state of Karnataka, but Keeling later returned alone to attend a party.
Her body was found on the morning of February 18, 2008.
Police alleged that D’Souza and Carvalho plied Keeling with a cocktail of drink and illegal drugs, including cocaine, before sexually assaulting her and leaving her to die by dumping her unconscious in shallow water where she drowned.
They denied all the charges, claiming that the teenager died an accidental death after taking drugs of her own volition.


Indian court clears two men over British schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling’s rape and death

Fiona MacKeown, mother of murdered British schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling, reacts while speaking in Panaji on September 22, 2016. An Indian judge will finally deliver a verdict September 23 on two men over the rape and death of British schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling in Goa in 2008, after years of delays and controversy. Fifteen-year-old Keeling's bruised and half-naked body was found on popular Anjuna beach in the north of the Indian resort state eight years ago. / AFP PHOTO / INDRANIL MUKHERJEE

(FILES) In this photograph taken on April 5, 2010, Placido Carvalho (R), an Indian defendent in the case of the rape and death of British schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling in Goa in 2008, walks with his wife as they arrive at the Children's Court in Panaji. An Indian judge will finally deliver a verdict September 23, 2016 on two men over the rape and death of British schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling in Goa in 2008, after years of delays and controversy. Fifteen-year-old Keeling's bruised and half-naked body was found on popular Anjuna beach in the north of the Indian resort state eight years ago. / AFP PHOTO / STR

(FILES) In this photograph taken on April 5, 2010, Samson D'Souza, an Indian defendent in the case of the rape and death of British schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling in Goa in 2008, covers his head with a motorcycle helmet as he walks through the Children's Court in Panaji. An Indian judge will finally deliver a verdict September 23, 2016 on two men over the rape and death of British schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling in Goa in 2008, after years of delays and controversy. Fifteen-year-old Keeling's bruised and half-naked body was found on popular Anjuna beach in the north of the Indian resort state eight years ago. / AFP PHOTO / STR