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Police to question Goa witness
17/03/2008 14:36 - (SA)
Panaji, India - A British tourist who says he saw a British teenager hours before she was allegedly raped and murdered in the Indian beach resort Goa was to testify before police on Monday, his lawyer said.
Police have said Michael Mannion, who has been in hiding since 15-year-old Scarlett Keeling was found dead on Goa's popular Anjuna beach on February 18, is crucial to their case.
"He will be produced before police where he will give his deposition," said Vikram Varma, a lawyer for both Keeling's family and Mannion.
Varma said he had already questioned Mannion, who in recent weeks told the British press that he saw a bartender from the Lui beach cafe where Keeling was last seen alive "lying on top" of her outside the bar.
Police have charged two men with raping and killing Keeling - the cafe barman, Samson D'Souza, and Placido Carvalho, an alleged drug dealer.
Lethal cocktail of drugs
Keeling was fed a lethal cocktail of drugs, raped and left on the beach where she was found dead, police said.
Mannion, a 35-year-old carpenter from London, was staying with D'Souza at the time of the incident but fled Goa, fearing his life could be at risk, he said.
His descriptions to the press of what he saw that night appeared to cement the case against D'Souza, who was arrested three weeks after Keeling's death on the basis of information provided by another unidentified witness.
Mannion has also been in touch with the British consulate in Mumbai, where he went after leaving Goa, Varma said.
Mannion was already present at the bar when Keeling turned up just past midnight, the lawyer said, adding that the British tourist warned D'Souza to stay away from the young girl.
Shielding druglords
Mannion is also likely to name another Indian man who was present at the time of D'Souza's assault on Keeling, he added.
In spite of the arrests, Keeling's mother, Fiona MacKeown, has said police are still shielding druglords, top police and politicians in connection with the case.
When Keeling's bruised and partially naked body was found last month, police at first said she had drowned in the Arabian Sea.
But a second autopsy demanded by MacKeown prompted police to launch a murder probe after as many as 50 injuries were found on her body.
The 43-year-old mother of nine has come in for criticism herself, for leaving her daughter with strangers in Goa while she holidayed with her other children in neighbouring Karnataka state.
- AFP
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