THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The first additional district sessions court here on Tuesday has awarded double life imprisonment for drugging, raping and murdering a Latvian woman, who reached Kerala for an Ayurveda treatment four years ago.
The court reiterated that the accused should be in prison till the end of their biological life and also directed to pay a fine of Rs 1.65 lakhs each.
The amount should be given to, the sister of the deceased woman. It was her determination and will power at various intervals that provided life to the case and the verdict owes much to her, said special public prosecutor G Mohanraj.
When there was lag in the trial and probe in the beginning, she approached the court to speed up the procedures and provided full cooperation to the team to ensure that all loopholes were capped.
Hearing the verdict pronounced by the judge K Sanilkumar, the accused Umesh (32), son of Bhuvanachandran of Thuruthi Veettil at Vellar and the second accused is Udayakumar (28) son of Ramachandran of Vadakkekoonam Thuruthi Vettil in Thiruvallam were seen annoyed as they told the court on Monday during the ‘question on sentence’ session that they do not repent as they are innocent.
The prosecution termed the verdict an apt one and is severe than a capital punishment. The defense counsel opined that the verdict was on the basis of circumstantial evidence and there is no authentic proof that the accused were involved in the crime. The accused will challenge the verdict at a higher court, it was learned.
The police and prosecution had a tough task in proving the case as there were no eye-witnesses and the collecting scientific evidence was very difficult from a decomposed body. The body was found after 38 days of crime and forensic team could not collect sperm from the decomposed body to prove rape charges.
The body of the Latvian woman was recovered from an isolated island-like mangrove at Panathura near Kovalam and the investigation team and prosecution raised the simple question that a woman, who is a foreigner, cannot reach the spot without the help of anyone. The prosecution was answering who took her to the spot with the help of 18 circumstantial evidence and through the statement of witnesses.
Raising a challenge before the prosecution, two witnesses in the case chemical examiner and a woman turned hostile. Facing all odds, the prosecution and the probe team could successfully convince the court that the accused drugged, raped and murdered the woman.
The 33-year-old Latvian national had travelled to Kerala for an ayurvedic treatment and went missing from here on March 14, 2018. Later, her decomposed body was recovered from a mangrove at Panathura on April 20. The case was investigated and a chargesheet was submitted by DSP Dinil JK, the then Fort ACP.
The court reiterated that the accused should be in prison till the end of their biological life and also directed to pay a fine of Rs 1.65 lakhs each.
The amount should be given to, the sister of the deceased woman. It was her determination and will power at various intervals that provided life to the case and the verdict owes much to her, said special public prosecutor G Mohanraj.
When there was lag in the trial and probe in the beginning, she approached the court to speed up the procedures and provided full cooperation to the team to ensure that all loopholes were capped.
Hearing the verdict pronounced by the judge K Sanilkumar, the accused Umesh (32), son of Bhuvanachandran of Thuruthi Veettil at Vellar and the second accused is Udayakumar (28) son of Ramachandran of Vadakkekoonam Thuruthi Vettil in Thiruvallam were seen annoyed as they told the court on Monday during the ‘question on sentence’ session that they do not repent as they are innocent.
The prosecution termed the verdict an apt one and is severe than a capital punishment. The defense counsel opined that the verdict was on the basis of circumstantial evidence and there is no authentic proof that the accused were involved in the crime. The accused will challenge the verdict at a higher court, it was learned.
The police and prosecution had a tough task in proving the case as there were no eye-witnesses and the collecting scientific evidence was very difficult from a decomposed body. The body was found after 38 days of crime and forensic team could not collect sperm from the decomposed body to prove rape charges.
The body of the Latvian woman was recovered from an isolated island-like mangrove at Panathura near Kovalam and the investigation team and prosecution raised the simple question that a woman, who is a foreigner, cannot reach the spot without the help of anyone. The prosecution was answering who took her to the spot with the help of 18 circumstantial evidence and through the statement of witnesses.
Raising a challenge before the prosecution, two witnesses in the case chemical examiner and a woman turned hostile. Facing all odds, the prosecution and the probe team could successfully convince the court that the accused drugged, raped and murdered the woman.
The 33-year-old Latvian national had travelled to Kerala for an ayurvedic treatment and went missing from here on March 14, 2018. Later, her decomposed body was recovered from a mangrove at Panathura on April 20. The case was investigated and a chargesheet was submitted by DSP Dinil JK, the then Fort ACP.
