British mum of girl slain in India calls off return visit: lawyer 5 hours ago
PANAJI, India (AFP) — The mother of a British girl killed in Goa has postponed a return visit to India after local welfare activists tried to have her charged with parental neglect, her lawyer said Friday. Fiona MacKeown was travelling elsewhere in India in February when police believe two men gave her 15-year-old daughter a cocktail of illegal drugs before one of them repeatedly raped her and she was left for dead. Utt Goenkara, a privately funded social welfare group, has lodged a petition with the courts saying Scarlett Keeling died because her mother left her alone in Goa, an area with a reputation for widespread drug abuse. Keeling's body, stripped of shorts and underwear, was found on the popular Anjuna Beach. A bartender and an alleged drug dealer were arrested in March for conspiracy to murder. MacKeown had planned to return to India within a week to testify to police, but has now delayed the trip, her lawyer said. "Fiona is waiting for the court's decision on this petition before deciding when to return to India to assist detectives," Vikram Varma said. MacKeown has accused authorities of covering up the murder after police initially dismissed Keeling's death as drowning. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jXUF2Qcdw0eJjbDi1K8usSHr6eNQ