Fiona absolves Israeli suspect

PANJIM, JULY 30
Scarlet’s mother, Fiona Mackeown, today told court that her daughter’s Israeli friend, Shanti, was a nuisance but harmless, although she suspected him to be behind her murder initially.
“When I learnt about passing away of my daughter, my first suspect was Shanti. But he was harmless,” Mackeown said.
Two-and-half years after her daughter was found dead, the British mother today deposed before the Goa Children’s Court, where she refuted the suggestion that Shanti was threatening the family.
“He was a nuisance. It is not true to suggest that Shanti was threatening us or misbehaving with us,” she stated during her cross examination.
Mackeown statement comes as a sharp contradiction to Scarlet’s boyfriend Julio Lobo’s statement who had said that Shanti was threatening Scarlet and her family, forcing them to shift from Anjuna to Arambol.
“No it’s not true that on account of his threat we shifted,” mother said.
Shanti was reportedly friendly with Scarlet before she met Julio Lobo.
Fiona, for the first time came face to face with Samson D’Souza and Placido Carvalho, both booked as accused in the death of her daughter.
Fiona, who was accompanied by her legal counsel Vikram Varma, said that she was very disturbed when Varma showed her both the accused in the court.
The mother in her two hour long deposition reiterated that Police Sub Inspector Nerlon Albuquerque initially tried to cover up the case.
 “He (Albuquerque) told me that she had drowned during swimming. Scarlet was very good in swimming so I did not believe him,” Fiona said.
The mother said that when she saw Scarlet’s body in the morgue, she had noticed bruises on her forehead, which were ignored by the PSI .
“On February 19, 2008 they showed me the body which was covered. When cover was removed, the body was naked and there were some bruises on the forehead,” Mackeown said.
Fiona said that at that time she asked Albuquerque about the bruises on the forehead as he had told her previously that there were no bruises. “He assured me that the said bruises were post mortem,” she added.
Fiona confirmed that she had written three different letters to IGP, Anjuna police station and SP North as she suspected foul play.
The mother today said that her daughter (Scarlet) had a very wide social life, friends inside and outside the school.
“She occasionally used to drink beer. To my knowledge, she never consumed drugs,” she stated.