It’s not the first time a young female tourist has been killed in this former hippy haven
THE murder of Danielle McLaughlin is the latest in a number of tragedies to hit former hippy haven Goa’s reputation.
Drawn by the beaches, yoga and Buddhism, it was a favourite on the 1960s hippy trail. After The Beatles travelled to Rishikesh in northern India in early 1968, the flow of young people seeking adventure in the mystic east increased considerably.
These days, millions of tourists travel to the paradise beaches of the southern half of the subcontinent each year to soak up the sunshine and enjoy hedonistic parties.
But Goa’s reputation has been tarnished in recent years following the discovery in 2008 of the body of 15-year-old British schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling who was found bruised and semi-naked in shallow water in Anjuna, a little over 100km from the spot where Danielle McLaughlin was killed.
Keeling drowned after allegedly being plied with drugs though her mother, Fiona MacKeown, insists she was murdered.
Goan police initially said her death was the result of an accidental drowning before two men were tried for assaulting and killing her. They were cleared in September.
Ms MacKeown said yesterday she was not surprised by Danielle’s murder. ‘This story reinforces my belief that Goa is a dangerous place to visit. Scarlett’s murder was covered up and I hope this one isn’t,’ she said.
‘It should put more pressure on the government to clean up the area. If they don’t do something, tourists will not feel safe to come to Goa. In my case, the court revealed they did not do a proper investigation.’
In 2010, mother-of-two Denyse Sweeney, 34, from Edinburgh was declared dead an hour after collapsing outside a bar in Anjuna. An Indian post-mortem put her cause of death down to a drugs overdose and said the evidence pointed to it being an accidental death.
But in 2012, a UK inquest heard there were no drugs in her system. There were 20 unexplained marks on her body, and tests showed she had in fact died from a head injury. The family campaigned for a new investigation in India, but detectives from the country’s Central Bureau of Investigation later dropped the case, insisting there was no evidence of violence.