he Bombay High Court at Goa has sentenced a beach shack owner Samson D’Souza to ten years rigorous imprisonment and ₹2.60 lakh fine for drugging and sexually assaulting British Teenager Scarlett Keeling before leaving her to die 10 years ago on a South Goa beach.
D’Souza was on Wednesday pronounced guilty for the sexual assault and killing of the British teenager who was 15 years and 8 months at the time of her death at Anjuna beach in Goa in February 2008.
D’Souza was sentenced 10 years for drugging, ten years for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, five years for sexually assaulting, three years for abuse of a child, and two years for destruction of evidence.
The court also fined D’Souza an amount of ₹2.60 lakh for the five offences which will be used to compensate the mother.
Scarlett’s seminude, lifeless body was found lying in the surf of the sands at Anjuna beach at 6:30 am. Barely two hours after she was last seen in the company of two men Samson D’Souza and Placido Carvalho.
Carvalho, charged with abetting the above offences was found not guilty and acquitted.
Also read | 1 convicted, 1 acquitted in British teen Scarlett murder case
In September 2016, the trial court had acquitted both D’Souza and Carvalho giving them the benefit of doubt citing lack of conclusive evidence and lapses on the part of the prosecution.
On Friday, prosecutor Ejaz Khan sought a maximum sentence for Samson to set up deterrence for others.
“In addition to seeking a very severe punishment, I seek that the victim may be compensated adequately. In this case the victim will mean the victim’s mother. She has had to run from pillar to post besides suffer trauma and severe pain in a foreign land,” Khan argued.
Khan said it was important to send a message that Goa doesn’t tolerate such kind of crimes and was a child friendly society as enshrined in the Goa Children’s Act.
On the other hand, Adv Shailendra Bhobe pleaded for leniency on the ground that D’Souza had no criminal record before and after the crime and was the sole breadwinner for his wife and 12-year-old daughter.
First Published:
Jul 19, 2019 16:23 IST
Source: HindustanTimes