Mother of Danielle angry as man accused of her murder in India gets bail for wedding
She fears he’ll try to abscond before trial ends and justice can be served
THE family of a young woman who was raped and murdered in India seven years ago say they’re ‘terrified’ that the suspect charged with her murder will flee when he attends his sister’s wedding tomorrow.
Danielle McLaughlin, from Buncrana in Co. Donegal, was found dead in a secluded spot in Canacona, an area of Goa popular with holidaymakers, in March 2017.
The 28-year-old was on holiday when she was hit with a bottle before being brutally raped and murdered. Ms McLaughlin’s alleged killer, Vikat Bhagat, aged in his 30s, has been in custody since 2017 and is currently before the courts on trial.
And while a verdict is expected to be reached in July, Danielle’s mother Andrea Brannigan has said she is very upset that he was granted bail to attend his sister’s wedding tomorrow.
Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, she said the news has come as a ‘major blow’.
‘I’m extremely annoyed that he’s been granted bail even if it’s just for one day because Danielle will never be able to see any of her sisters get married – it’s just not fair,’ she said. ‘I’m really worried
‘How will we ever get to move on?’
that he’s going to attempt to escape because he’s been far from a model prisoner during his time in custody.’
She added: ‘I’m waiting to receive more news from the embassy, like if it’ll be an overnight stay or if he’ll have to return to prison right after the service. But the courts have already issued an order so I don’t think there’s anything I can do about it.’
The ‘Truth for Danielle McLaughlin’ Facebook page, run by the family, stated yesterday that they are ‘terrified’ Danielle won’t get justice.
A post on the page states: ‘How will we ever get to move on if he does abscond? Today feels like the day we found out she died all over again.
‘How are we meant to move on from this death and process it when yet again we can’t have faith in a judicial system that has let a rapist and murderer get bail once again? We know he is able to walk free this weekend for a wedding while we sit at home panicking that he will disappear or hurt again.
‘He gets to celebrate his freedom and his sister’s wedding while we grieve the loss of Danielle and possibly the justice she deserves.’
The post added: ‘If he disappears will Danielle ever get justice? We just want this trial to end and will it ever if he absconds? We are truly devastated and heart- broken with this news.’
The Indian High Court has set a deadline for the trial to conclude on July 16 of this year. Two Irish representatives from the consulate’s office in Mumbai also liaised with authorities in Goa last month to seek assurance that the deadline will be met.
However, Ms Brannigan said that her confidence in the Indian courts is waning. ‘I just feel they don’t care about Danielle because at the end of the day this man [the accused] seems to get everything he requests,’ she added.
‘Hopefully this will be the last time something like this occurs because we’ve had enough.’
This is not the first time Bhagat has been granted temporary release from prison.
In 2022, he was allowed to attend his father’s funeral for two days under police escort.
Donegal TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn is expected to raise the matter before the Dáil in the coming days. He will ask Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin to make an ‘urgent statement’ on what engagements the Irish Government has had with Indian authorities in relation to the case.
He will also highlight the ‘outrageous length of time that this trial has taken, the endless adjournments, the repeated failure to ensure that the accused is presented by the Indian prison authorities to attend court’.
Sinn Féin TD Mr Mac Lochlainn will also seek a statement on the ‘profound additional distress and anguish that all of this has caused to Danielle’s family’.
Murder accused Bhagat was known to Ms McLaughlin from previous visits to the country and he allegedly admitted the crimes to police before entering his notguilty plea in court.
A post-mortem showed she had suffered cerebral damage and constriction of the neck, causing her death. The court heard how Ms McLaughlin’s remains were found in a pool of blood by a farmer at around 7am on March 13, 2017.
Police allege that Bhagat forced himself on her, and when she resisted, he allegedly hit her with the bottle and strangled her.
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs previously told the Mail that it ‘has been providing consular assistance to the family of Ms McLaughlin, through our embassy in New Delhi, our consulate general in Mumbai and our Consular Assistance Unit in Dublin’.
Found in a pool of blood by a farmer