PANAJI: A local Court in Goa has sentenced Vikat Bhagat to rigorous life imprisonment for the rape and murder of a 28-year-old Irish national in 2017.
The conviction was handed down by Additional Sessions Judge Kshama Joshi last week. Bhagat was charged with murder, rape, robbery and destruction of evidence.
The prosecutor had pleaded for his death sentence during the arguments on the framing of charge, citing a serious offence. The sentence pronounced today will run concurrently.
Danielle McLaughlin, a backpacker from County Donegal, Ireland, was killed in March 2017 during the Holi festival. Her body was discovered in a field in Canacona, a town in South Goa. The post-mortem revealed that she had suffered severe brain damage and was strangled to death.
Prosecutors had requested the death penalty for Bhagat, but the court decided on life imprisonment.
Bhagat’s conviction has now closed a painful chapter for Danielle’s family, who have been seeking justice since her tragic death.
