The heartbroken family of Buncrana woman Danielle McLaughlin have said justice has “finally been achieved”.
Danielle was raped and killed in India just two weeks after arriving there in 2017.
Vikat Bhagat was found guilty at the District and Sessions Court in south Goa, India, today of her rape and murder.
Danielle’s mother Andrea Brannigan and sister Joleen McLaughlin Brannigan spoke of their feelings in a statement issued by family solicitor Desmond Doherty.
They said “There was no other suspect or gang involved in Danielle’s death and (Vikat) Bhagat was solely responsible for cruelly ending her beautiful life.
“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.
“We are content now with the judicial confirmation in public of what we already sadly knew. What further legal processes now take place we will observe.
“We are grateful to the court for allowing us, as is our right under the Indian legal system, representation at the trial.
“We wish to thank our lawyer in Goa, Mr Vikram Varma for attending to all that for us.
“We are also grateful to our lawyer back home, Desmond Doherty, who worked closely with Vikram in explaining to us the trial process and events at the trial.
“Without this joint legal representation we had, we would have been lost in the process. This was an eight-year murder trial that has been very tiring. We are glad it is over.”
Ms Brannigan and Ms McLaughlin Brannigan also said the quest for truth and justice is “no easy matter, as we have discovered”.
“In memory of Danielle, we stayed patient and respectful of the Indian legal system with the aid also of the British and Irish consular staff,” they added.
“We are glad to have visited the area where Danielle spent her last days on this earth, painful and difficult as that was.
“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.”
