‘It will not bring her back but…’: Accused in 2017 rape and murder of Irish backpacker found guilty, her family breaks down in Goa court

The victim, a 28-year-old dual British-Irish citizen, had come to Goa with a friend for a holiday in February 2017. A former student of Liverpool John Moores University, she hailed from Buncrana in County Donegal in Ireland and had travelled to India on a British passport. Her body was found in a pool of blood without clothes and injuries on her head and face in a field near Palolem beach in South Goa’s Canacona on March 14, 2017. The night before, she had attended a Holi party near the beach.

Goa Police had arrested Bhagat, a local whom the victim had befriended during an earlier trip to Goa, in connection with the crime. Bhagat, who had a criminal record with theft, assault and robbery cases, was charged under sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape), 394 (robbery) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC.

When the accused was held guilty in the courtroom on Friday, the victim’s family – her mother, her sister and her friend – who travelled from Ireland for the hearing, broke down. Her mother approached the investigating officer in the case and thanked him.

“We are very emotional after the verdict but so glad her voice was heard. It will never bring her back but we are glad he was found guilty. We are so thankful to the public prosecutors, lawyers, investigating officers for all that they have done fighting for her,” the victim’s mother told The Indian Express.

After the conviction, the victim’s sister read out a statement outside the court.

“We, as her family and friends, are so thankful to both the Embassies, public prosecutors, lawyers and investigating officers involved in our fight for justice. They have treated her like their daughter and have tirelessly fought for her. We are so thankful that their hard work has paid off. And that Vikas has been found guilty of taking her from us. We have lost nearly eight years of our lives fighting for her, and we are so thankful that we can now start grieving her immeasurable loss,” the family said in a statement to the media.

“She made the most of her 28 years and lived every day to the fullest. She was so kind and always so happy. She did not deserve what he put her through. We are so grateful to have been able to be here for the verdict and to see Goa that she loved so much,” they said.

During the arguments on the quantum of sentence, the prosecution pleaded to the court to give “maximum punishment” to the accused.

“She lost her life at a young age in a brutal rape and murder. No leniency should be shown. A precedent must be set,” the public prosecutor told the court.

The defence counsel pleaded with the court to take a lenient view on the sentence.