Court acquits Scarlett’s friend in Goa

The Goa children’s court on Wednesday acquitted Julio Lobo, friend of British teenager Scarlett Keeling, who was allegedly raped and murdered at Anjuna, for want of evidence. The Goa police had charged Julio under the Goa Children’s Act.

Scarlett’s mother Fiona MacKeown had left her in Julio’s custody before going on a tour of Gokarna in Karnataka with her boyfriend. Court president BP Deshpande ruled that the state police had failed to produce documentary evidence against Julio during the trial. The chargesheet filed by the police had stated that Julio was staying with the minor girl — a crime under the Goa Children’s Act — some days before Scarlett’s murder.
Julio had been arrested in March last year, more than a month after Scarlett’s body was recovered.

This is another setback for the Goa police. Fiona had alleged that the police were trying to bury the case by claiming that Scarlett’s death was due to drowning. After her efforts the state directed a second autopsy which established that the death was homicidal.