Scarlett’s character being maligned: Fiona

PANAJI - Fiona Mackeown, 46, has accused the defence counsel of indulging in character assasination of her 15-year-old daughter Scarlett Keeling, who was allegdly drugged, sexually assaulted and left to die at Anjuna beach, 20 kms from here, more than two years ago.

Speaking to reporters after emerging from a nearly three-hour-long cross-examination at the Goa Children’s Court (GCC) by the defence lawyers, a visibly affected and agitated Mackeown said that she was disgusted by the goings on in court during her daughter’s culpable homicide trial.

“Its disgusting. They were trying to make it look as if because Scarlett had a few beers and drugs, it was OK what happened to her,” Fiona said, after she was cross-examined by Jos Peter D’Souza, advocate for Placido Carvalho, who along with Samson D’Souza has been arrested for drugging and sexually assaulting Scarlett and later leaving her behind to die near the shoreline.

D’Souza, in the course of the cross-examination, had grilled Mackeown on issues relating to Scarlett’s virginity, the regularity with which she had sex and the teenager’s consumption pattern of drugs and alcohol.

“I have never seen anything like this. So if she had sex… how bad is it… they were just trying to assasinate Scarlett’s character,” Mackeown said.

Expressing disgust at the defence lawyer’s tactics, she also admitted that she was not really surprised by the attempts to malign Scarlett’s character.

“It could be, that in India, there is a tendency to think that if a girl is raped, then she asked for it,” Mackeown said.