Indian tour guide and friend sentenced to life imprisonment for rape and murder of Latvian woman in Kerala resort

A tour guide and a drug trafficker have been sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of a Latvian woman in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

Liga Skromane, 33, who lived in Ireland, traveled to Kerala with her sister to seek Ayurvedic treatment for depression.

She disappeared from a resort near the coastal town of Kovalam on March 14, 2018. Her sister Ilze said Skromane went to buy cigarettes but never returned.

Her decomposing and decapitated body was found after 38 days by two fishermen in a forest almost 30 kilometers from the wellness resort where she was staying.

A court in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram found 31-year-old Umesh and 28-year-old Udayakumar guilty of rape, murder, kidnapping and sale of narcotics.

The court found that both men lured the Latvian tourist with marijuana and “heavily drugged” her before raping and strangling her.

Judge K. Sanil Kumar ordered that the accused should serve a prison term till death and should not be eligible for parole or parole.

Both men were fined 165,000 rupees (£1,640) each, which the court said will be paid to the victim’s family.

The defendants pleaded not guilty in court and reportedly requested a lie detector test after the verdict was announced to prove their innocence.

Skromane’s disappearance sparked outrage in India after her sister attempted to find her.

Mrs Ilze filed a missing person report with the local police and visited several locations to track down her sister. She offered a reward for information.

Special Public Prosecutor G Mohan Raj described the verdict as an “exemplary judgment”.

“The case met more than one parameter that the Supreme Court had set to judge a case as the rarest of rare cases,” he was quoted as saying by The new Indian Express As I said.

“The verdict will have a strong deterrent effect and is a better punishment than death. We are satisfied with the verdict.”

Before the sentencing, Skromane’s partner Andrew Jordan said the trial had “brought up a lot of emotions.”

“Some parts are relieved that light has been shed on dark deeds, they are saddened by the broken hearts of their families, they are bitter at those responsible, they love the brave souls fighting the good fight and the one who went down fighting,” he said. Irish Mirror.