Close X
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
ADVT 
India

Scarlett Keeling Murder: Through Crowd-Funding, Mother Offers Reward For Leads To Daughter's Killers

Darpan News Desk IANS, 08 Mar, 2017 12:18 PM
    A British mother, in pursuit of justice in India for her slain teenaged daughter for the last nine years, has now resorted to crowd-funding to track down key witnesses and offer a reward for information that could help nail the attackers.
     
    Fiona Mackeown, who runs a farm in the United Kingdom's Devon region, where she raises chickens and horses, has put out a plea for 20,000 pounds (Rs 16 lakh), weeks after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) resolved to appeal against the acquittal of two beach shack workers -- Samson D'Souza and Placido Carvalho -- who were accused of sexually assaulting 15-year-old Scarlett Keeling and leaving her to die on Anjuna beach in 2008.
     
    "We're raising 20,000 pounds to offer a reward for information and/or evidence that leads to the conviction of Scarlett's murderer. Keep fighting for justice," she says on the crowdfunding website www.justgiving.com , which has raised 285 pounds over the last couple of days.
     
    Scarlett's barely-clothed body was found at Anjuna beach in February 2008. While the police initially tried to pass off the incident as a suicide, a second autopsy revealed 52 injury marks on her body as well as traces of a cocktail of drugs in her system. The CBI was later appointed to probe the case by the state government, but in September last year, a trial court acquitted the two accused due to lack of evidence.
     
    Fiona has been critical of the investigation by the federal agency, which, she says, excluded several persons involved in her daughter's alleged murder, but at the same time is optimistic that the acquittal of the two accused has been challenged before the Panaji bench of the Bombay High Court.
     
    "Out of all of the people involved in Scarlett's murder and the cover-up, only two were brought to court and, not surprisingly, they were acquitted. The CBI has announced they are going to appeal the acquittal in the high court in Mumbai. I think this is my last chance to find witnesses that saw Scarlett on the night she died; there are too many gaps," she said in her appeal on the crowd-funding site.
     
     
    "I will also need to return to Goa for the end of the appeal as being in Goa brings a different energy to the case. I am not prepared to give up on Scarlett, she was a good girl who enjoyed and was looking forward to her life," she added.
     
    Fiona also maintains that Scarlett grew up swimming in the seas off the coast of Cornwall and Devon and could not have drowned, as initially maintained by state government agencies.
     
    "The police and Government in Goa tried to cover up the murder saying it was a drowning accident and denying there were injuries to support my claim she was murdered. Scarlett grew up swimming in the sea off the coast of Cornwall and Devon and was a strong swimmer who respected the sea," she said.
     
    In response to Fiona's appeal, donor Sheila Grant, a distant relative, has given 10 pounds, with a comment offering hope.
     
    "I think of you and Scarlett often Fiona, and I hope you can find justice. I hope too that eventually you and all your children will feel at peace some days. I am Geoffrey's sister. Love from Sheila," she wrote.
     
    Fiona also hopes that her quest for justice for her slain daughter will also serve as an example for those who are fighting for justice for their kin found dead in mysterious circumstances in Goa.
     
    "If we succeed in getting justice for Scarlett we will be the first. This will open the gateway for others who I am in contact with who have also had loved ones murdered in Goa and been treated appallingly by the authorities. I just want the truth," Fiona said.

    MORE India ARTICLES

    Mehbooba Pins Kashmir Hopes On Modi, Blames Pakistan For Unrest

    Mehbooba Pins Kashmir Hopes On Modi, Blames Pakistan For Unrest
    Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday squarely blamed Pakistan and separatists for fuelling the ongoing trouble in the Kashmir Valley that has been seething with public anger and violent anti-government protests for the past 50 days.

    Mehbooba Pins Kashmir Hopes On Modi, Blames Pakistan For Unrest

    Akali Dal 'Shocked' By Arvind Kejriwal's 'Anti-Sikh' Stand

    Akali Dal 'Shocked' By Arvind Kejriwal's 'Anti-Sikh' Stand
    Describing Kejriwal's remarks, made to Chhotepur, as "shocking in the extreme", the Akali Dal termed these as "anti-Sikh, most disparaging and humiliating remarks".

    Akali Dal 'Shocked' By Arvind Kejriwal's 'Anti-Sikh' Stand

    Three B.C. Cities Want Ottawa To Share Revenue Of Prospective Marijuana Tax

    VANCOUVER — Three municipalities in British Columbia want a stake in any tax revenue that the federal government collects from the legalization of marijuana.

    Three B.C. Cities Want Ottawa To Share Revenue Of Prospective Marijuana Tax

    Rahul Gandhi Must Quit Politics To Save Congress Future: Subramanian Swamy

    Rahul Gandhi Must Quit Politics To Save Congress Future: Subramanian Swamy
    On Thursday, Gandhi said in a tweet, “I will never stop fighting the hateful and divisive agenda of the RSS. I stand by every single word I said.”

    Rahul Gandhi Must Quit Politics To Save Congress Future: Subramanian Swamy

    Chilli Pepper Balls May Replace Pellets In Kashmir

    A government-appointed experts panel has recommended chilli pepper-filled balls to replace the dangerous pellets as less lethal ammunition to control protesting crowds in Jammu and Kashmir.

    Chilli Pepper Balls May Replace Pellets In Kashmir

    Asked To Remove Pagdi, Bjp Mp Virendra Singh 'Mast' Refuses US Visa

    Asked To Remove Pagdi, Bjp Mp  Virendra Singh 'Mast' Refuses US Visa
    Upset at being asked to remove his pagdi, Mast, a Rajput from Uttar Pradesh, refused to visit the US and returned to his constituency Bhadohi. 

    Asked To Remove Pagdi, Bjp Mp Virendra Singh 'Mast' Refuses US Visa