Drama in court as policeman tells how he found Scarlett's body on Goa beach

AN INDIAN policeman told yesterday how he found the body of British teenager Scarlett Keeling lying half submerged on a tourist beach.

Pc Gurunath Naik was the first of more than 70 witnesses who will be called in the trial of two men accused of killing 15-year-old Scarlett.

He told the Goa Children's Court in Panaji that he was on duty at Anjuna police station when he responded to a call stating that a person had been found lying on the seashore. The bruised body of Scarlett, from Bideford, Devon, was found on Goa's Anjuna beach in February 2008.

The 29-year-old constable said he was asked to visit the beach after the anonymous call. Mr Naik said he found the girl's naked body lying face down on Anjuna beach with the waves lapping at it.

"The eyes were partly open, the mouth was partly open too, with froth, while orange-coloured slippers were lying two to three metres away from the body," he told BP Deshpande, the president of the court.

The constable said he dragged the body out of the water and covered it with a sheet. Having informed his superiors, he waited until other officers arrived.

During cross-examination, the defence counsel found that several statements from Mr Naik yesterday did not correspond to ones made to the Anjuna police, the Goa police and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The constable said he had improved his statements to the Goa police and the CBI on instruction of the investigating officer.

CBI counsel SR Rivonkar told reporters after the hearing: "These are minor contradictions and are bound to happen."

Another witness, Vishant Chopdekar, who drove the police vehicle and went down to the beach with Mr Naik, was also summoned to the court.

But his examination has been delayed until tomorrow, when he will appear along with two others.

Mr Rivonkar said statements from more than 70 witnesses, including Scarlett's boyfriend Julio Lobo, are to be heard.

The teenager's mother, Fiona MacKeown, and Ruby Caso, a Spanish friend who was with her hours before she died, are expected to testify through video conferencing. Post-mortem examinations have revealed that Scarlett was intoxicated by a cocktail of drink and drugs on the night she died, was attacked and raped, and may have drowned.

Ms MacKeown fought for a full investigation into her death after police initially suggested that she had accidentally drowned.

The trial of accused Samson D'Souza, 30, and Placido Carvalho, 42, has faced constant delays, but Mr Rivonkar said he expected it to be completed by "the end of the year".

The pair, charged with culpable homicide, sexual assault, outraging modesty and destroying evidence, were arrested a month after Scarlett's death, but are currently on bail.

D'Souza fled court with his face hidden by a motorcycle helmet, while Carvalho attended the hearing with his wife and young child.

Meanwhile, Ms MacKeown has herself faced allegations of negligence after leaving her teenage daughter alone while she travelled to the neighbouring state of Karnataka.