British mother of killed teenager writes anguished letter to India | GlobalPost
British mother of killed teenager writes anguished letter to India
The British mother of a teenage girl raped and killed in Goa six years ago has written an anguished letter to the chief minister of the Indian holiday state begging for justice.
Fiona MacKeown has sent a request for the case to be fast-tracked to Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, suggesting that the people who killed her daughter Scarlett Keeling were politically connected.
Keeling's bruised and half-naked body was found on the popular Anjuna beach in February 2008, when she was 15 years old.
"I understand that the men who committed this crime were politically connected and were protected by powerful persons in the previous government," reads the letter written on December 6, a copy of which was seen by AFP on Monday.
MacKeown accused the previous state government of trying to "hush up" the matter.
Two men were arrested and charged with homicide several weeks after the attack in the coastal state, which has long been a haunt for Western tourists, but their trial is yet to reach any conclusion and has hit several obstacles.
"Every fibre of my being wants to punish those who killed my daughter but I do not have the strength or the means to identify and punish them," MacKeown said.
"Six years is a long time and Scarlett deserves justice which lies in the hands of your administration," she wrote to Parrikar.
Police initially dismissed Keeling's death as an accident but opened a murder probe after MacKeown piled pressure on local authorities, pushing for a second autopsy which proved that she had been drugged and raped.
"I do understand that justice is a right for every citizen, but rather than demanding that right, I would be grateful for your intervention in the matter," MacKeown said.
India has been in the spotlight for its high frequency of sexual attacks since the fatal gang-rape of a student in New Delhi in December 2012.
Most of the victims are Indians, but some of the attacks have also involved tourists, such as a 51-year-old Dutch woman who was gang-raped in the capital in January.
str/rob/pj
British mother of killed teenager writes anguished letter to India
The British mother of a teenage girl raped and killed in Goa six years ago has written an anguished letter to the chief minister of the Indian holiday state begging for justice.
Fiona MacKeown has sent a request for the case to be fast-tracked to Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, suggesting that the people who killed her daughter Scarlett Keeling were politically connected.
Keeling's bruised and half-naked body was found on the popular Anjuna beach in February 2008, when she was 15 years old.
"I understand that the men who committed this crime were politically connected and were protected by powerful persons in the previous government," reads the letter written on December 6, a copy of which was seen by AFP on Monday.
MacKeown accused the previous state government of trying to "hush up" the matter.
Two men were arrested and charged with homicide several weeks after the attack in the coastal state, which has long been a haunt for Western tourists, but their trial is yet to reach any conclusion and has hit several obstacles.
"Every fibre of my being wants to punish those who killed my daughter but I do not have the strength or the means to identify and punish them," MacKeown said.
"Six years is a long time and Scarlett deserves justice which lies in the hands of your administration," she wrote to Parrikar.
Police initially dismissed Keeling's death as an accident but opened a murder probe after MacKeown piled pressure on local authorities, pushing for a second autopsy which proved that she had been drugged and raped.
"I do understand that justice is a right for every citizen, but rather than demanding that right, I would be grateful for your intervention in the matter," MacKeown said.
India has been in the spotlight for its high frequency of sexual attacks since the fatal gang-rape of a student in New Delhi in December 2012.
Most of the victims are Indians, but some of the attacks have also involved tourists, such as a 51-year-old Dutch woman who was gang-raped in the capital in January.
str/rob/pj
