Scarlett’s body bore scars and abrasions, recalls cop

PANAJI - The body of British teenager Scarlett Keeling bore scars on her face, abrasions on her knees and ornamental piercing in several parts of her body, a woman police constable who was the first to inspect the body told the Goa Children’s Court Friday.

She also said that Scarlett was frothing at the mouth when she was found.

Police constable Reshma Naik was the first to physically inspect the 15-year-old teenager’s half-naked body, found near the tide-line at Anjuna beach Feb 18, 2008.

“PSI (police sub-inspector L.) Amonkar instructed me to check the body since it was of a female. I found that the body was naked. I also noticed one mark of a scratch or abrasion on the left forehead above the eyebrow and also on the left eyelid. Similarly, there were abrasions on both knees,” Reshma, then attached to the Anjuna police station, said in her deposition.

“I also observed piercing near the chin portion below the lower lip and also on the stomach and on the breast. There were studs in both ears,” she said, adding that an examination of the Scarlett’s private parts did not show any injury.

Another witness, Baptist D’Souza, who runs a shack at Anjuna beach, said that his Nepali cook Nirdosh had discovered Scarlett’s body while jogging on the beach in the morning of Feb 18, and come and told him.

“Nirdosh came to my shack and told me that a foreigner’s body was lying near Luis shack,” Baptist said. He also told the court that he had known Scarlett “two to four months prior to the incident”.

The trial into the sensational case began earlier this week in Panaji at the children’s court, which is the designated court to hear matters involving crimes against minors. Two beach shack workers, namely Samson D’Souza and Placido Carvalho, are accused of the crime.