TRAGIC LIGA WAS STRANGLED
Postmortem confirms 33-yr-old’s murder as cops hunt killer gang
TRAGIC tourist Liga Skromane was murdered, a postmortem confirmed yesterday.
Blood clots on the 33-year-old’s brain and bruises proved she was strangled – a week after her decapitated body was found in Kerala state, India.
Cops vowed to hunt for Latvian Liga’s killers with “renewed vigour”.
Liga’s Irish partner Andrew Jordan said: “They have their top investigator on the case. India just wants this solved.”
THE Irish partner of murdered Liga Skromane has paid tribute to the Indian people for their “unbelievable support”.
Andrew Jordan was speaking after a postmortem confirmed the 33-year-old Latvian had been strangled.
Forensic experts found blood clots on her brain that confirmed the possibility of strangulation.
They also pointed out there were bruises on her neck and legs.
Mr Jordan, from Swords in Co Dublin, is in the southern Indian state of Kerala where Liga’s decapitated body was found hanging from a tree in a remote mangrove forest more than a week ago.
He told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “People here have been unbelievable. They’re all completely heartbroken. They keep coming up to me crying, saying they are so ashamed. This is the first time a foreign tourist has been killed here.
“This is a tourist mecca. People have been unbelievably supportive and beautiful. It would make your heart melt. They have given me food, clothes, they left their jobs to help me search.
“I have eight men beside me here who have been my rocks.
“I really don’t want the people here to feel shame because there are bad people who do things like this all over the world.”
Liga travelled to Kerala with her older sister Ilze on February 3 for treatment after suffering post-traumatic depression.
She left the Ayurvedic retreat centre on the morning of March 14 and was dropped by rickshaw at Kovalam beach, a popular tourist spot several miles away.
Police initially suspected suicide but are now treating her death as murder after fishermen discovered her remains on April 20 at a secluded marshy spot.
The location is a notorious den for drug addicts which can only be reached by boat.
It is thought Liga was snatched from the beach and ferried by boat before being drugged, gang raped and strangled to death.
Her body was identified by the colour of her hair and her dress before DNA tests confirmed it to be Liga. It was cloaked in a jacket which was not hers.
Last Tuesday the Kerala human rights commission directed the home secretary and the state police chief to probe allegations of laxity and file a report
within four weeks. It is being claimed that if police had launched a proper investigation in the crucial 24 hours after Liga’s disappearance she would not have been killed.
Mr Jordan, who works at an ecology centre in Co Meath, is confident that Liga could have been saved if police had been quicker to react.
But he added: “I’m starting reluctantly to give the police a bit of credit and let them do their job.
“They have their top investigator on the case and he’s a good guy. India just wants this to be sorted and solved.
“Thankfully they’ve taken the suicide theory off the table completely which is a good thing. I don’t believe it was the beach boys who did this.
“I’ve talked to so many people here and they all say they wouldn’t be capable of something like this.
“My fear is she was picked up by somebody with a shop or a hotel. They just kept her for a few days, used her, then
There is huge violence against women.. I’m going to dedicate my life to helping them
ANDREW JORDAN SPEAKING FROM KERALA STATE, SOUTHERN INDIA
killed her and dumped her.” A source revealed the special investigation team of Kerala police is hunting for those responsible with “renewed vigour”.
A highly-placed official said they were likely to arrest the suspects within two days once a strong evidence-backed case is built against them.
Police inspector general Manoj Abraham yesterday inspected the crime scene, while cops have seized a boat suspected to have been used to ferry Liga to the secluded place at Vazhamuttom, where her body was found later. It has been reported two women confirmed to the authorities they witnessed Liga going into the mangrove forest alone.
The area is frequented by drug peddlers who are disguised as anglers who, it is claimed, have gone to ground since the day Liga’s body was found.
Meanwhile, sources said Liga’s family is planning to cremate her remains in India as her body is so badly decomposed it cannot be flown back to Dublin.
Mr Jordan had been living with his partner for five years and hopes to establish a retreat in her name to help victims of violence.
He added: “Myself and Liga were planning for years to set up a retreat centre where people could get help and that is going to be my legacy to her. We spent four years scraping money together
to buy land in Portugal to set up a centre for yoga retreats and that is what I’m going to do. There is huge violence against women here and I’m going to dedicate the rest of my life to helping them.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s in India or Portugal. My focus now is on violence against women.”
I’m starting to give the police a bit of credit and let them do their job
ANDREW JORDAN
SPEAKING FROM INDIA