Man found guilty of rape and murder of Irish backpacker in India
Danielle McLaughlin's body was found in March 2017 in a remote spot in south Goa, an area popular with holidaymakers. She had been raped and strangled.
Friday 14 February 2025 11:44, UK
A man has been found guilty of the rape and murder of Irish backpacker Danielle McLaughlin in 2017.
A local man, Vikat Bhagat, was convicted at the District and Sessions Court in south Goa on Friday.
Ms McLaughlin's naked body was found by a farmer in March 2017 in a secluded spot in Deobagh, south Goa, an area popular with holidaymakers.
The 28-year-old County Donegal woman had been raped and strangled, a post-mortem examination found.
In a statement, Ms McLaughlin's mother and a sister said justice had "finally been achieved".
"There was no other suspect or gang involved in Danielle's death and (Vikat) Bhagat was solely responsible for cruelly ending her beautiful life," her mother Andrea Brannigan and sister Joleen McLaughlin Brannigan said.
"We have endured what has been effectively an eight-year murder trial with many delays and problems, right until the end, all taking place thousands of miles away from Danielle's home.
"We are content now with the judicial confirmation in public of what we already sadly knew. What further legal processes now take place we will observe."
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Ireland's deputy premier, Simon Harris, paid tribute to her mother for what he called her "determination and resilience" and said he hoped the verdict "represents some closure for the family".
Ms McLaughlin had travelled to the southern Indian state with a female Australian friend, and the pair were staying in a beach hut.