TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: A fast track court has sentenced a former employee of forest department to seven years imprisonment after convicting him of assaulting and raping a British national at Merces in 2008.
Lawrence Dias has also been slapped with a fine of Rs 10,000 which in default he has been asked him to undergo six months of imprisonment.
The horrific rape shook the State in January 2008 when the man on the pretext of dropping the 32-year-old woman to Panjim bus stand on his two-wheeler took her to Merces spring where assaulted and raped her. As per the description of the foreigner a sketch of the accused was drawn. He was arrested him a year after he went into hiding. The victim identified him as her rapist before an executive magistrate.
The prosecution had examined 24 witnesses in support of the case. According to the charge sheet, the victim was returning after attending a cultural concert at Kala Academy. She took a lift from the convict to go back to her hotel room as she was not getting any transport. But he took her to Merces instead and raped her there.
