Goa barman in court over rape of British teenager
Monday, 10 Mar 2008 20:03
Indian court appearance for man accused of raping UK teenager murdered in Goa
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A 28-year-old man has appeared in an Indian court in connection with the rape of a UK teenager murdered in Goa last month.
Samson D'Souza, who owns a bar in the western Indian state, appeared at Mapusa magistrates court where he was charged with the rape of Scarlett Keeling.
Eyewitnesses said they saw Mr D'Souza rape the 15-year-old on a beach on February 18th but he denies assaulting her.
Police officials stressed their investigation into her murder was continuing.
Scarlett's body was found half-naked on a beach in Anjuna last month, but police have only recently acknowledged she was murdered.
A second post-mortem discovered more than 50 bruises over the teenager's body, going against the original police line the teenager had drowned after drinking too much.
The post-mortem also showed there was not enough water in Scarlett's lungs for her death to be consistent with drowning.
Scarlett, from Bideford, Devon, had been in Goa since last November, when she arrived on a holiday with her mother Fiona MacKeown and five brothers and sisters.
Ms MacKeown, who had lobbied Indian police to hold a second autopsy, reacted to a man potentially being charged with raping Scarlett by claiming detectives were making a token arrest.
"I am not confident that they have got the right person, I think that they are just making a public show, to be honest," she told BBC News.
Ms MacKeown has also called for India's central bureau of investigation to lead the case into why police in Goa initially failed to realise her daughter had been murdered.