The Hindu : National : New twist to Scarlett murder case

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New twist to Scarlett murder case

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: Scarlett Keeling, the British teenager found dead on a Goa beach in February last year, might have been sexually attacked by a group of men known to her days before she died, it has emerged.

The Observer newspaper on Sunday quoted police sources as saying that Keeling sent an email to a Spanish friend two days before her death alleging that up to six men tried to rape her after she returned to a beach bar from a rave where she had taken drugs.

She reportedly wrote: “Got a taxi back to Curlies and slept ther [sic] but the boys showed me some hardcore porn movies on a phone, then they all took it in turns trying 2 [sic] rape me.”

“Curly’s” is a beach bar that Keeling and her siblings frequently visited and it was yards from the bar that her body was found. The newspaper said the “boys” referred to in the email were “six young Indian men who had gained the trust of Scarlett’s mother Fiona MacKeown.” Police were quoted as saying that they could be the killers.

“They have not been arrested because the police are waiting to speak to Ms. MacKeown face-to-face,” it said.

Keeling (15), who was on holiday in Goa with her family, was found murdered on Anjana beach on February 19, 2008.

The case, which sparked headlines in Britain and India amid allegations of a cover-up by the local police, remains unsolved.

Two men – Samson D’Souza and Placido Carvalho – arrested in connection with the murder have since been released on bail for lack of sufficient evidence.

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