Man convicted of raping and murdering Irish woman in India is sentenced to life in prison

The body of 28-year-old Danielle McLaughlin was found by a farmer on a beach popular with tourists in Goa in March 2017. An autopsy showed that cerebral damage and constriction of the neck caused her death, the BBC reported.

Vikat Bhagat was found guilty of the crime on Friday. McLaughlin’s family in a statement had said they and her friends were “thankful to the public prosecutor and the investigating officer for justice.”

Usually, rape victims cannot be named under Indian law. In this case, the victim’s family spoke to the media to raise awareness of her case.

The crime highlighted persistent violence against women in India despite tougher laws against sexual assault imposed after the 2012 death of a young woman who was gang-raped on a bus in New Delhi.

In a statement after Bhagat was found guilty, Danielle’s mother Andrea Brannigan and her sister Joleen McLaughlin Brannigan said justice “has finally been achieved,” the BBC reported.

“There was no other suspect or gang involved in Danielle’s death and Bhagat was solely responsible for cruelly ending her beautiful life,” they said.

A separate statement posted on behalf of the family on the “Truth For Danielle McLaughlin” Facebook page said her “truth has finally been heard.”

“We have lost nearly 8 years of our lives fighting for Danielle and we are so thankful that we now can start grieving her immeasurable loss. She was so much more than a daughter, sister and best friend. She lit up every room she entered and touch the lives of all who met her. She brought so much good into this world and he so quickly took her from this world with his cruelty,” the statement said.

Goa is a popular backpacking destination in India. Millions of tourists visit its numerous beach resorts every year.

But its reputation as a tropical paradise has been marred by high-profile crimes involving foreigners. In 2008, British schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling, 15, was drugged, raped and murdered in Goa in a case that made global headlines.

McLaughlin was a Liverpool John Moores University student who had been staying in a beach hut with an Australian friend before her death, the BBC reported. The pair had been celebrating Holi, a Hindu festival, in a nearby village. She left the village at night and her body was found the next day.

Many cases of crimes against women go unreported in India due to the stigma surrounding sexual violence, as well as a lack of faith in the police. Activists say new sentencing requirements haven’t deterred rapes and the number of recorded rape cases has increased. In 2022, police recorded 31,516 reports of rape – a 20% jump from 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.