The Hindu : Front Page : Scarlette Keeling’s mother alleges cover-up

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Thursday, Mar 13, 2008
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Scarlette Keeling’s mother alleges cover-up

Prakash Kamat

She writes to Manmohan

PANAJI: Fiona Mackeown, mother of Scarlette Eden Keeling, the 15-year-old British girl who was found dead on a Goa beach last month, on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apprehending police attempts to cover up the case as death by drowning.

She asserted that the death of her daughter was “homicidal and preceded by sexual abuse by criminals involved in the murder.”

Criminal nexus

Ms. Mackeown accused the police of ignoring the important issue of criminal nexus in the case and sought the intervention of the Government of India to ensure justice to her family.

Expressing an apprehension of the “existence of a nexus between the criminals who murdered her daughter and the men in uniform,” Ms. Mackeown said she had no faith in the leadership of the Goa police.

Significantly, her letter follows rejection by Chief Minister Digambar Kamat of her demand for a CBI probe.

Narrating the background to the mysterious death of her daughter on the Anjuna coast on February 18, she alleged that locals were aware of the circumstances which led to the murder and they informed her and the police too.

Accusing the police of fabricating the panchanama and registering a case of drowning death as part of the nexus between the police and the drug mafia, Ms. Mackeown said: “From the information I have gathered and the documented events that have occurred, it seems quite clear, that there is a strong drug mafia on the coast of Anjuna. These men have criminally violated a number of persons and on their instructions, the police and the administration refuse to acknowledge such crimes in their records.”

Raising the broader issue of people’s faith in the State administration, Ms. Mackeown lamented in her letter: “My daughter has been murdered and nothing would bring her back to life, but your timely intervention now would ensure that the tourists coming here as well as the people of Goa retain faith in the State and administration.”

Lookout notice

Meanwhile, the Goa police issued a lookout notice for British tourist Michael Manyon, a key witness, asking him not to leave the country. Mr. Manyon had reportedly seen the accused barman Samson D’Souza sexually abusing Scarlette. The police were pursuing his media statements to this effect.

Superintendent of Police Bosco George told The Hindu that the police would provide all protection to Mr. Manyon, who feared for his life.

Bail plea rejected

A sessions court here rejected “for want of jurisdiction” the bail application of Samson, who is now in 14-day police custody, and the anticipatory bail application of an eyewitness Placido Carvalho, a local youth, and Scarlette’s boyfriend Julio Lobo.

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