British tourist Stephen Bennett’s mother Maureen said she was 'furious with the Indian police for blackening my son’s name'.
British tourist Stephen Bennett’s mother Maureen said on Saturday she was “furious with the Indian police for blackening my son’s name”. Stephen was murdered on December 10.
In a telephone interview from Manchester, she told DNA Sunday she was saddened by police statements that were “blackening the name of my son, calling him a drug addict and an AIDS patient’’.
She was distressed that details of her son’s murder in Roha were unclear. “This has been one long and complicated procedure,” Maureen said. “The Indian authorities have not told us anything.”
She said her son last spoke to her on December 7, 2006, around noon India time, en route to Mumbai. “Stephen said he was being escorted by two men from Goa, who were taking him to Mumbai,” Maureen said. “When I asked if he was at a railway station, he said he was not, and not travelling by train either. On December 6, Stephen spoke to me four times and expressed fear of some persons who had run him off Baga beach earlier. He left messages on our answering machine, saying ‘Goodbye, I am going to be murdered’.”
Maureen believes Stephen was driven out of Baga by some persons and had taken a taxi to Panaji, where he stayed till the morning of December 7.
“He returned to the beach hotel for his luggage and took the same taxi back to Panaji bus depot on December 7. There, he asked the taxi driver how much it would cost to drive to Mumbai. He was told an exorbitant rate, after which two people offered him a ride,” she added.
According to Maureen, when her son called on December 7, he said he could make out from conversations that his life was in danger. “I told him he would be all right, and he was to call me back in 30 minutes for information on flights from Mumbai to London,” she added.
“They (the killers) may have offered him a cheap ride and he foolishly took it,” she said. “The two who accompanied my son to Mumbai befriended him and said he would enjoy their company. ”
Maureen added the police claims would suggest that her son stayed in Roha for three days, surviving on berries and no one remembers seeing him till December 10, when he was allegedly killed by villagers. His luggage was recovered from the train three weeks later.
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