Witnesses from Kerala, NZ drawn back for murder trial

Colva: Deputy superintendent of police Rajendra Prabhudessai, the investigating officer in the 2017 case of the rape and murder of an Irish national, said that the prosecution was fraught with challenges.

Prabhudessai told TOI that most of the witnesses were locals who could have swayed in their testimony as the years passed. “There were instances in the initial stages of the trial in which the witnesses were threatened and wanted to turn hostile,” he said. “But we managed to keep them safe and on the side of the prosecution.”

He said the Covid pandemic created a vacuum between police, the prosecution, and the witnesses. “Some witnesses migrated to their native places and were difficult to trace,” he said.

In one instance, a witness had settled in New Zealand and finding him was difficult, Prabhudessai said, adding that when he was traced, he had to be cajoled to return to Goa to depose.

When the witness arrived, the prosecution sought time to let him visit his home town, Bhopal. His testimony was finally heard over videoconferencing from a sessions court there.

Another witness was from Kerala who returned to his home state during the pandemic. He could not be found for a long time. “Finally, we stuck the court notice on his residential house, encouraging him to contact me,” Prabhudessai said. “He was brought to Goa to testify. The difficult part was to keep the witnesses together and make them testify in line with their statements to police.”
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