When Fiona Mackeown along with her partner Rob Clarke came from Devon to spend some quality time here, little did they know that that a nightmare of a lifetime was in store for them. Fiona’s adorable daughter Scarlett Keeling Eden, then 15 years and 8 months old, was found dead in a mysterious circumstance on the shores of Anjuna beach on February 18, 2008.
The mother still regrets why she allowed her daughter to stay back in Goa all alone while rest of the family travelled to the bordering Karnataka. The six-month-long vacation in India turned out to be a struggling time when Fiona took on the then Goa government to give justice to her slain daughter.
Scarlett’s bruised semi-naked body made global headlines. Fiona refused to accept Goa police’s version that it was an unnatural death as registered by Anjuna police station. On her abrupt return from Om beach in Karnataka, her only mission was to find Scarlett’s killers. Helped by Supreme Court lawyer Vikram Varma in the State, Fiona began screening the entire beach to find her daughter’s clothes and slippers in the bushes. These were crucial evidences Fiona submitted to the police demanding that police registers a case of murder.
Her parallel investigation and testimony of witnesses startled everyone. Drugs, alleged forced sex and other atrocities on the minor was revealed to the world. Fiona identified the body at GMC with former Anjuna police in charge Nerlon Albuquerque confirming that Scarlett was wearing swimwear and had drowned. He had stated that he conducted detailed investigation and was sure that it was a case of accidental drowning in the sea.
The evidence that Fiona found near the scene of crime made everyone realise that Nerlon had not done a proper investigation, as the clothes should have been attached during the panchanama. She rushed to Anjuna police with clothing after asking Scarlett’s alleged boyfriend Julio D’Souza to identify the shorts. An adamant mother, who launched a sustained campaign exposing the police cover up, refused to conduct the funeral until a murder FIR was registered. After running from pillar to post and supported by her legal advisor Varma and meeting former chief minister Digambar Kamat besides the police higher ups; the Anjuna policce were forced to register murder FIR against two local boys on March 8, 2008. The campaign also led to suspension of Goa medical college’s forensic head Dr Silvano Sapeco for making ‘irresponsible media statements’ hampering the probe. He had told the police after the first autopsy that the case was suspected to be homicide. The PI didn’t allow then PSI Laxi Amonkar to investigate the case as murder that ultimately brought the Goa police’s role under the scanner.
Investigation began on the lines of murder but the initial goof up didn’t allow the mother to trust the police any further. The ex-Congress government, left with no option after the negative limelight, agreed handing over the investigation to CBI. A police chargesheet was filed on May 31, 2008 and subsequently the case papers were transferred to CBI. The CBI sleuths filed the chargesheet after nearly 496 days of investigation on October 14, 2009.However, the disappointment was that the serious charges against alleged accused Samson D’Souza and Placido Carvalho were mellowed down to culpable homicide. Nonetheless, the trial finally began in the Children’s Court on March 19, 2010 and final arguments completed after 2350 days of extensive hearing.
