THE mother of a teenage girl raped and murdered on a beach in Goa is to be questioned by police for negligence after leaving her 15-year-old daughter in the care of an older man.
Fiona MacKeown was travelling with the rest of her family in a neighbouring state at the time her daughter, Scarlett Keeling, died, having relented to Scarlett's persistent demand to stay behind with a local tour guide with whom she was secretly sex
ually involved.
Yesterday, the superintendent of police in Goa, Boscoe George, said: "We will have to question the mother."
The chief secretary to the government of Goa, JP Singh, said the case had been overblown and that people were overlooking the fact that the girl had been left alone and had a history of drug abuse.
Yet Ms MacKeown, who fought to have her daughter's death investigated as murder after police initially claimed she had drowned while drunk, said it was "disgusting" that the authorities were to question her for negligence.
Scarlett's semi-naked body was found on the beach in the resort of Anjuna on 19 February. She was last seen in the early hours of the morning, drinking in Lui's Shack, a beach bar in Anjuna, where the family had come to spend a six-month holiday.
The chief minister of Goa is reported to have said Ms MacKeown should be investigated for negligence, but Ms MacKeown insisted the authorities were "trying to change the media focus" and said she expected to be taken in and questioned.
Ms MacKeown said her lawyer believed there was no strength behind the allegations. But she admitted: "It is worrying. I do not understand the system here."
She said Scarlett was not left in Anjuna, but joined the rest of the family regularly. "There was constant phone contact when she was not with us," she said.
A local tour guide, Julio Lobo, with whom Scarlett was left, was "very caring" of her, as an uncle would be, she added.
Ms MacKeown said she believed Scarlett began a sexual relationship with Mr Lobo only after losing contact with her boyfriend in England. She said she was being accused on "hearsay", adding: "They should be focusing on the rubbish the police are putting forward."
Ms MacKeown, 43, said Scarlett was not supposed to be out in the bars at 4am. She said: "I feel responsible for being naive and too trusting. I certainly do not feel I was negligent. She was in good hands with people who cared about her. I felt she was in a good family atmosphere, not just with one guy who was out there after her."
Ms MacKeown, who has nine children aged between five and 20, had asked her daughter and Julio if they were sleeping together. Both insisted they were not, but a subsequent reading of Scarlett's diary made it clear they were in a relationship. Mother and daughter usually had an open relationship. She was aware her daughter took the Pill and had experimented with cannabis.
Meanwhile, police in Goa were continuing to question a man in connection with Scarlett's rape and murder. Samson D'Souza, 28, appeared in court in Mapusa, Goa, on Monday and was remanded in police custody for 14 days. Witnesses said they saw him raping Scarlett on the beach in Anjuna on 18 February.
Goa police inspector Kisham Kumar said after the court hearing that the police were satisfied Mr D'Souza was involved in the rape, although no formal charge had yet been brought against him.
"As far as the murder is concerned, we are still investigating," he said. Once the investigation into the offences was over "we will prepare a charge sheet", he added.
Ms MacKeown said on Monday she was not satisfied with the way the investigation into her daughter's death was being conducted, and called for the case to be taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's investigation agency.
