Man who raped and murdered Irish backpacker in India jailed for life
The body of Danielle McLaughlin, 28, from County Donegal, was found by a farmer on a beach popular with holidaymakers in Goa in March 2017.
Monday 17 February 2025 11:03, UK
A man who raped and murdered an Irish backpacker in India eight years ago has been jailed for life.
Danielle McLaughlin's body was found on a beach popular with holidaymakers in Goa in March 2017.
The 28-year-old County Donegal woman had been raped and strangled, a post-mortem examination found.
Vikat Bhagat, 31, was found guilty at a court in India on Friday.
At the time, Ms McLaughlin had travelled to the southern Indian state with a female Australian friend and was staying in a beach hut.
The pair had been celebrating Holi - a Hindu festival - in a nearby village. A day later, a farmer found her body in a remote location in Canacona.
Speaking after the guilty verdict last week, Ms McLaughlin's mother and a sister said justice had "finally been achieved".
"There was no other suspect or gang involved in Danielle's death and (Vikat) Bhagat was solely responsible for cruelly ending her beautiful life," her mother Andrea Brannigan and sister Joleen McLaughlin Brannigan said.
"We have endured what has been effectively an eight-year murder trial with many delays and problems, right until the end, all taking place thousands of miles away from Danielle's home."
Ireland's deputy premier, Simon Harris, also paid tribute to her mother for what he called her "determination and resilience" and said he hoped the verdict "represents some closure for the family".
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Speaking later on Monday, the family's solicitor Desmond Doherty said the family are "exhausted" and "anxious to get home".
He told BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme they are due to fly back to Ireland from India, and he believes there had been more than 250 hearings as part of the court process.
"The process here would be that a family would turn up at a court and be advised what was happening by the prosecution," Mr Doherty said.
"She [Danielle's mother] actually was centrally involved in the entire process, so it has come to a successful conclusion from that point of view."