Backpacker Danielle was beaten with bottle before being killed
CCTV reveals her final hours
TRAGIC backpacker Danielle McLaughlin was beaten over the head with a bottle before being raped and then strangled, Indian police have said. Chilling CCTV footage emerged yesterday of the 28year-old Donegal woman apparently being followed just hours before her death.
Ms McLaughlin’s naked body was discovered in a field in Cancona, in southern Goa, on Tuesday morning after she had been celebrating the Hindu festival of Holi the night before.
Within hours, police arrested 24year-old Vikhat Bhagat, who they described as a petty criminal who targeted tourists. He was escorted to a police station with a bag over his head.
Bhagat, who knew Ms McLaughlin, appeared in court yesterday charged with her murder and was
‘You’re with us, remember’
remanded in custody for seven days. Police are still interviewing three other suspects.
CCTV images were released yesterday which showed Ms McLaughlin, from Buncrana, hours before her body was found on a beach in Goa. Bhagat is shown a few paces behind the 28year-old, who turns her head to speak to him before walking off.
Yesterday police Deputy Superintendent Sammy Tavares revealed that a post mortem had found Ms McLaughlin had died from strangulation and head injuries and had been raped. ‘The accused has told us that he wanted to have sex with the victim and when she refused he took a beer bottle and hit her over the head,’ he said.
Examinations have shown she desperately fought off her attacker with Bhagat covered in cuts and Ms McLaughlin’s body also showing signs of a struggle.
Her clothes were later found dumped in a bag near Bhagat’s home, according to reports.
Superintendent Tavares added: ‘Vikat has told us that they knew each other as Danielle had visited Goa last year and became friends with him.’
Two British tourists have described how they chatted with Ms McLaughlin on her last night but that five Indian men who appeared to know her had arrived and tried to usher her away.
Dave Woodruff, 37, said: ‘We chatted a lot, and these guys would pull her back and say: “You’re with us, remember.”’
Mr Woodruff, and his friend Kate, told how they left her with the group and went for a late-night swim – and when they returned, they had all vanished. He told the Guardian: ‘The men were kind of sticking to themselves. But it was obvious [Ms McLaughlin] knew them, she referred to them as friends.’
She was friends with the suspect
He said she told him she had met one of the men the previous year and that he was helping to find her a place to stay after her plans had fallen through. A British friend who was with him added that Ms McLaughlin did not seem to be under duress, and seemed ‘happy’. Other witnesses have reported that she and Bhagat had a row with a bar owner at around the same time and shortly afterwards were seen riding away on his scooter.
The following day Mr Woodruff learnt to his horror that she had been murdered after being shown a posting on Facebook about a body being found, realising the description of the tattoos matched Ms McLaughlin’s.
Shocked Indians who had got to know the former bar worker told how she had fallen in love with the country and had volunteered to work with slum children.
Rishabh Surana, 29, from Kolkata, first met her a year ago when she made her first six-month trip to India, and they kept in touch via social media.
‘She was obsessed with India and loved India more than Indians do,’ she said.
While in Kolkata Ms McLaughlin volunteered at Mother Teresa’s Missionary of Charity helping underprivileged and disabled children. ‘She told me she could not wait to come back,’ Ms Surana said. ‘She loved India and people of India and was so happy to return.
‘She always said people here are very humble and helpful and it is extremely tragic to see that the reason she visited India again saw her brutal death. I will miss her smile and energy the most.’