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2008 International Goan Convention
Toronto, Canada
Early Bird Discount Registration closes March 31, 2008
http://www.2008goanconvention.com/regform_print.html
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Bereaved, Vilified, Undaunted
AJIT SAHI finds Fiona MacKeown determined to get justice in the face
of personal attacks
At 7.45 pm on February 17, 2008 Briton Fiona MacKeown phoned her
15-year-old daughter Scarlett from a public booth off a Kerala
highway. "We're going home to see your brother," Fiona said. "Yeah!"
Scarlett, who was in Goa, was thrilled. "Love you, Mom… see you
tomorrow." With six of her nine children and partner Rob, Fiona had
earlier driven down the coast on an extended holiday but U-turned on
hearing that her oldest son Hal had been badly hurt in a road accident
in England. The party spent the night in their jeep in a stranger's
garage. "I couldn't sleep," Fiona says. "I was up at 5 am to leave."
At that very instant, Scarlett was raped and left to die on Goa's
Anjuna beach. Ten hours later, Fiona received an SMS from Julio Lobo,
the 25-yearold Goan guide with whom she had left Scarlett: "Cal me as
soon as possible. Its very urgent." Fiona thought the message was from
Scarlett who always used Julio's phone. But when she called back, a
hysterical Lobo told her that Scarlett had been found dead on the
beach that morning.
Fiona, who turns 44 on Monday, now faces the biggest challenge of her
life. Walking out of a broken home at 15, doing a year in jail for
knifing a molester at 17, bearing nine children from four men but
marrying none ("I don't really believe in marriages."), Fiona has
shown her characteristic guts in challenging Goa's home minister Ravi
Naik and his police force for stalling the probe into her daughter's
murder to shield Goa's drug lords. Tattooed and dressed like a hippie,
Fiona walks barefoot, fearless in a foreign land. She has been slammed
in India, in England and across the world for leaving her minor
daughter with Lobo, who she had just met a month ago. But Fiona says
she won't stop trusting people and defends Lobo whom she believes
tried to find her daughter through the fateful night. Fiona has been
called a drug addict and a peddler. "I would be rich if I was a
peddler, wouldn't I?" she asks.
Rumours abound that she has often visited Goa and overstayed. Truth:
Fiona got her first 10-year passport in 2007 and shortly afterwards
came to Goa for two weeks with her partner Rob, a Goa veteran."Anjuna
was so beautiful with such a lovely atmosphere," she says. "I had to
bring my children here." The family came together last November. Fiona
has been called dysfunctional."I am probably dysfunctional, compared
with most people in British society. But I'm much happy," she smiles
wryly."I don't have mortgages and I don't run up bills." Fiona denies
she lives or travels on government dole. Indeed, she worked hard over
the past decade to buy farmland in Devon, and raise horses there. She
sold one horse to help pay for this holiday.
As Fiona returned to Goa, Anjuna's police officer Nerlon Albuquerque —
who had earlier that day hurried the autopsy to pass off Scarlett's
death as a drowning, and who had made no effort to find Fiona — made
her wait three hours. He showed her pictures of four other dead bodies
before Scarlett's, and allowed her to see Scarlett's body only the
next day. "I am most disappointed with the police for lying to me
right through," Fiona told TEHELKA. "I trusted them as I would the
police in England." At the morgue, Fiona was immediately suspicious of
Scarlett's injuries, unlikely for a death by drowning. Plus, a toe
ring was missing. But the police insisted Scarlett had drowned to
death.
Scarlett Keeling
Fiona's suspicions were revived the next day when she visited the site
where Scarlett's body was found, close to a shack named Lui on Anjuna
beach. "That spot was right on the beach and it was impossible to
believe Scarlett could drown there," she says. Then an eyewitness told
Fiona that Scarlett's body had been missing the bikini bottom while
her top had been pulled up past her breasts. Scarlett combed the area
and found the missing garment in the rough ground behind Lui, where it
later emerged Scarlett had been raped. Now Fiona knew better than to
go to the police. She asked around and was led to a lawyer Vikram
Verma, whose home has welcomed the small group that has sprung up to
support the cause. A fellow campaigner is a tattooed American yoga
teacher, the self-christened Dakini Runningbear, who sought out Fiona
after hearing about her daughter's death. Counselled by Verma, Fiona
lobbied the British press for an exposé, and demanded a second
autopsy, which subsequently proved both rape and murder. The frantic
international media coverage and public outrage has forced the police
to arrest Samson D'Souza, a partner at Lui, on suspicion of plying
Scarlett with drugs and then raping her, and Placido Carvalho, a local
drug dealer. Meanwhile, police officer Albuquerque has been suspended.
"I trusted him so much that I gave him Scarlett's diary, hoping it
would help his investigation," Fiona says. Instead, the police gave
copies of the diary to a London
tabloid that published excerpts trashing the murdered teenager as a
drug addict. Over the last two weeks, Fiona, Verma and Runningbear
have emerged as determined sleuths, taking on the establishment. Last
Saturday, Fiona accused home minister Naik and Goa's topmost police
officer, Director- General of Police BS Brar, of leading the cover-up.
She launched her accusations before the world press, moments before
entering the juvenile wing of the police for questioning. Naik is yet
to offer a word of condolence at Scarlett's death, or contrition for
the police failure. Instead, he has spewed venom at Fiona. Brar has
maintained a stunned silence.
On Monday, Fiona scooped a key witness into their investigation: a
British tourist Michael 'Masala' Mannion who saw a drunken Scarlett
enter the Lui shack at 3 am on February 18. In his deposition, Mannion
claims that a third man, Murali, who works at a nearby shack Curlies,
walked out with Scarlett at 5 am, promising to drop her at Julio's
house. Minutes later, Mannion went behind the shack and saw Samson
trying to molest Scarlett, and Murali driving away. Scarlett's murder
has once again shown that India's massively corrupt system won't move
for the underdog unless an irrepressible maverick like Fiona arrives
and refuses to give up. Sadly, the system is bent on running her down
instead of helping. Already, Naik has threatened to lobby the Centre
to not extend Fiona's visa which expires on May 4. Fiona is, of
course, determined to bring justice to her daughter. "Scarlett was a
wonderful big sister and a gatherer of people," she says of her eldest
daughter, who would have turned 16 on June 17, exactly four months
after her brutal murder. "Everyone misses her."
From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 12, Dated Mar 29, 2008
http://tehelka.com/story_main38.asp?filename=Ne290308bereaved_vilified.asp
