2nd suspect held for Goa murder
13/03/2008 12:38  - (SA)  

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Goa cops probed over murder Man held for UK tourist's death

Panaji, India - Indian police on Thursday accused an alleged drug dealer of murdering British teenager Scarlett Keeling by providing her drugs that led to an overdose and her death in the resort state of Goa.

Placido Carvalho was arrested and charged late on Wednesday with murdering the 15-year-old more than three weeks after her bruised and partially naked body was found at dawn on Goa's popular Anjuna beach, police said.

"Placido was arrested because he had given drugs to Scarlett," Goa police superintendent Bosco George told AFP.

Keeling, who was just 15, had ingested a cocktail of LSD, ecstasy and cocaine in the hours leading up to her death, witnesses told police, who are still awaiting the results of a stomach analysis.

One step towards justice

Police sources say they believe Carvalho also raped a drugged Keeling and then left her body on the beach.

With the arrest, the second in the case, police said they had almost "cracked" the case.

Police have already charged another man, 29-year-old Samson D'Souza, with statutory rape.

D'Souza, who denied rape but reportedly admitted consensual sexual contact, has told a court that Keeling was still alive when he left her shortly before dawn on February 18.

Fiona MacKeown, the young girl's mother, could not be immediately reached for comment, but her lawyer said she was pleased with the latest development.

"I feel they are on the right track and that is one step towards justice," Vikram Varma told AFP.

Lifestyle of drugs and sex

Keeling's 43-year-old mother came to Goa from Devon in southwest England in November with seven of her nine children for a six-month stay.

She has said she believes her daughter was raped and murdered, and has accused police of trying to stall a proper investigation from taking place.

Police in the former Portuguese colony had initially insisted the girl had drowned in the Arabian Sea but a second post-mortem demanded by Keeling's mother ordered authorities to open a murder investigation.

The coastal state's chief minister, Digambar Kamat, has also vowed to probe her allegations against local police.

But MacKeown has come in for criticism herself, with her teenage daughter's alleged lifestyle of drinks, drugs and sex played up in press reports.

- AFP

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