PANJIM: A French woman tourist committed suicide after killing her 7-year-old adopted daughter in Anjuna on the intervening night of Friday-Saturday.
Goa Police have ruled out any outsider having entered the house. Anjuna Police Inspector Paresh Naik said the entire room and house were intact. According to the police the incident occurred sometime on Friday night to Saturday morning.
The deceased has been identified as Severina Figeredo (44) residing in a rented premises in Anjuna since December last year. Police said the woman had arrived in Goa with her husband on a tourist visa and they had then adopted a girl from Karnataka. The husband had left for France two months ago. Police said and the woman and the adopted girl had stayed behind.
Police said the duo adopted the girl after following all procedures under the law and possess a court order stating they are legal guardians of the child.
Anjuna Police said the woman killed her daughter before killing herself. Police suspect that the child was suffocated to death, after which the woman slit her throat. Police said a blade was recovered from the deceased’s right hand and her throat was slit on the right side.
Police after talking to the family members of the deceased said the deceased was depressed and that could be the reason why she ended her life.
In the course of panchanama a suicide note was recovered that stated ‘pardon me, I cannot take this pressure’, police said.
“We have attached each and every article found in the house related to the incident, everything was done with the help of scientific and forensic officers. Even the dog squad and fingerprint experts were called for the panchanama,” PI Naik informed Herald.
Police said the incident came to light when husband’s calls to his wife went unanswered. He then contacted a friend asking him to go to the house where the wife and adopted daughter were residing. Anjuna Police were called by the friend of deceased’s husband.
People living in the area were shocked. Villagers said the seven-year-old girl was being educated in Yellow School at Anjuna and spoke French fluently. The couple and the adopted girl were known in the village.
“They used to come to my shop along with the girl. The husband was very nice to the villagers. We don’t know what went wrong,” a shopkeeper in the area said.
A lady fruit vendor said the woman’s husband was very helpful and used to offer lift on his two-wheeler to elderly.
