Justice for Danielle: Court conviction ends eight-year long wait for family

Family says they can finally mourn her loss, thanks everyone for their support, and claims hard work has paid off

MARGAO
The long wait for justice was finally over for the family and relatives of deceased British/ Irish woman Danielle McLaughlin after the South Goa Sessions Court on Friday noon held guilty Vikat Bhagat in the rape and murder of the victim at Canacona in 2017.

Anxiety was writ large on the faces of Danielle’s mother, sister and friend, besides officials of the British Embassy as they were all seated inside the court room of Additional Sessions Judge, Kshama Joshi on Friday noon, anxiously waiting for the Court order in the case. Around the same time, a group of policemen had escorted accused Vikat Bhagat, wearing a face mask, into the Court room.

Danielle’s mother and her relatives turned emotional after they heard Judge Joshi pronouncing the order, holding Vikat Bhagat guilty behind Danielle’s rape and murder.

Later, Danielle’s sister along with mother and their friend expressed their gratitude to everyone involved in their fight for justice. “The family and friends thanks everyone 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 Vikat has been found guilty of taking Danielle from us,” the sister said.

Public prosecutors seek maximum punishment

MARGAO: The prosecution has argued for maximum punishment for accused Vikat Bhagat after the South Goa Sessions Court convicted him for the rape and murder of Irish/British national Danielle McLaughlin.

While defence lawyer, representing Vikat Bhagat pleaded for leniency while sentencing the accused, Public Prosecutors Devendra Gaonkar and Sanjay Samant have called for maximum punishment for the accused.

In fact, Public Prosecutor Korgaonkar submitted before Additional Sessions Judge Kshama Joshi that the new criminal law prescribes stringent punishment of death penalty in matters of rape and murder.

“The accused deserved no leniency and should be handed with stringent punishment as a woman has lost her life at an early age. The accused has committed brutal rape and murder. No leniency should be shown to the accused,” Korgaonkar said.

The Public Prosecutor further submitted that the accused has committed a gruesome crime against women and the accused does not deserve any leniency.

Several prosecutors and judges were involved in 7-yr-old trial

MARGAO: As curtains came down on the seven-year-old trial of the sensational eight-year-old rape and murder of British/Irish national Danielle McLaughlin, with the South Goa Sessions Court trial ending in the conviction of accused Vikat Bhagat, a host of public prosecutors had conducted prosecution of the case during the trial which lasted for seven long years.

That’s not all. During the seven-year period when the trial had started in April 2018, around a year after the gruesome rape and murder of the British/Irish national on March 13-14, 2017, a number of judges had presided over the trial, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Public Prosecutor V G Costa was the first to conduct the prosecution of the case, public prosecutors who later conducted the prosecution were Awde, Nagvenkar, Gaonkar, Devendra Korgaonkar and Sanjay Samant.