HORROR IN PARADISE
Ex-colleague admits strangling Scots mum in Mauritius ++ Son, 10, rang for help, saying: Mum’s dead
A MAN has admitted killing a Scottish mother by strangling her during a robbery at her home in Mauritius.
Janice Farman, 47, was found dead in the bedroom of her home on the Indian Ocean island in July 2017.
A post-mortem examination found she died as a result of asphyxiation caused by compression of the neck.
Her ten-year-old son Gavin was in the house at the time.
Kamlesh Mansingh, 27, a former work colleague of Mrs Farman, choked her to death with a wire after he went to her home with two other men to rob her.
Prosecutors in Mauritius have confirmed that all three accused have now admitted their involvement in the death.
Mansingh pleaded guilty to manslaughter during a hearing at the Supreme Court of Mauritius in Port Louis earlier this week.
Ravish Rao Fakhoo, 27, pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting Mrs Farman without intention to kill. A third man, Anish Soneea, 20, admitted aiding and abetting Mansingh in killing the expat.
Mrs Farman, from Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, moved to Mauritius in 2002 and was managing director of IT firm PECS Data Services. She moved to Albion on the island’s west coast only a few months before she was killed.
The court case heard her son had phoned one of her work colleagues on the night of the robbery and told her ‘there were three men in the house’ before adding his mother had died and was bleeding from the mouth.
Mansingh told the police he had met Mrs Farman when they
‘Three men in the house’
worked for an advertising company on the island. They lost touch when Mrs Farman left the firm but met up again in 2017 and Mansingh and Fakhoo had socialised with her in the weeks leading up to her death.
After running into financial difficulties, they concocted a plan to steal her car and other belongings from her home while wearing masks.
It is believed Mrs Farman was attacked after she recognised one of the men. Fakhoo said he held Mrs Farman’s hands while Mansingh strangled her.
The men fled the scene in her car after stealing items including jewellery and clothing.
A spokesman for the Director of Public Prosecutions in Mauritius said: ‘A formal charge of manslaughter with aggravating features was lodged against accused parties Mansingh and Fakhoo, whereas a charge of aiding and abetting the two was lodged against Soneea before the Supreme Court.
‘Fakhoo has pleaded guilty to a charge of wounds and blows causing death without intention to kill. Mansingh pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter and Sonnea to aiding and abetting Mansingh in the commission of manslaughter.’
The three men will all be sentenced at a later date.
Mrs Farman’s funeral service was held at St Augustin’s Church in the island’s Riviere Noire region.
In a letter read at the funeral, her parents Doreen and Alexander Kerrigan said: ‘We and Janice spoke about the fact we wished to be cremated and she always stated she wished to be cremated also. Never, ever did we think that she would precede us.
‘We hope and pray that her wish to be cremated is carried out with the dignity and respect she deserves and that the urn containing her ashes is given to her beloved son, our grandson.’
Mr Kerrigan, a former police officer, and his wife, from Erskine, Renfrewshire, discovered their daughter’s death on social media and could not attend her funeral due to ill health.
Mrs Kerrigan did not wish to comment on the convictions yesterday.