Man who murdered Irish backpacker Danielle McLaughlin in India jailed for life

A 31-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison for raping and murdering Irish backpacker Danielle McLaughlin in 2017.

The body of 28-year-old Ms McLaughlin was found by a farmer on a beach popular with holidaymakers in Goa in March 2017.

Vikat Bhagat was found guilty of the crime on Friday. Ms McLaughlin’s family in a statement had said they and her friends were “thankful to the public prosecutor and the investigating officer for justice”.

Ms McLaughlin had travelled to Goa with an Australian friend, and the pair were staying in a beach hut.

They had been celebrating Holi – a Hindu spring festival – at a nearby village. Ms McLaughlin’s body was found the next day.

Rape victims cannot usually be named under Indian law, but this case Ms McLaughlin’s family chose to speak out to raise awareness of her case.

After Bahgat was found guilty Ms McLaughlin’s mother Andrea Brannigan and sister Joleen McLaughlin Brannigan said in a statement: “There was no other suspect or gang involved in Danielle’s death and (Vikat) Bhagat was solely responsible for cruelly ending her beautiful life.

Danielle McLaughlin, 28, was killed in India in 2017. / Credit: Facebook

“We have endured what has been effectively an eight-year murder trial with many delays and problems, right until the end, all taking place thousands of miles away from Danielle’s home in Buncrana, County Donegal.”

Ms Brannigan and Ms McLaughlin Brannigan added the quest for truth and justice is “no easy matter, as we have discovered”.

“We now hope not only that Danielle can rest in peace, but that we as a family can have some peace and comfort knowing that the person who brutally raped and murdered our precious Danielle has been convicted.”

The crime highlighted persistent violence against women in India despite tougher laws against sexual assault imposed after the 2012 death of a young woman who was gang-raped on a bus in New Delhi.