Mum fears daughter’s killers will never face justice

INJURIES Scarlett Keeling A MUM fears the killers of her daughter Scarlett Keeling will never be brought to account after reports the case will be closed today.

Samson D’Souza, 37, and Placido Carvalho, 49, were held after the 15-year-old’s half-naked body was found on a beach in Goa in February 2008.

Authorities initially treated her death as an accident but mum Fiona MacKeown pushed for a second postmortem which found 50 injuries.

Prosecutors claimed D’Souza and Carvalho plied Scarlett with drugs, carried out a sex attack and left her to drown on the beach after she had gone to a Valentine’s Day party.

Both men were cleared at Goa Children’s Court in 2016, but India’s Central Bureau of Investigation lodged an appeal against the acquittals – expected to be dismissed today.

Scarlett’s mum Fiona MacKeown, 55, of Bideford, Devon, said she is resigned to losing and called the investigation a “mockery”.

She added: “I feel like they hope we just go away after 11 years. If it ends then Scarlett will have been failed. I fear it will never be solved but I’ll never stop hoping. I can’t bear thinking her killers may never be found.

“All we want is to get justice. I just want it to be over and someone to be held accountable.

“It has dominated our lives but we have all tried to move on. I’ll be devastated if that’s it. Scarlett deserves more than this.”

If the acquittals are upheld today the only option left is to appeal the not guilty verdicts in the Indian Supreme Court.