Parents of murdered Guernsey backpacker brand Indian judicial system ‘a disgrace’

LONDON: The parents of a

Guernsey

backpacker who was murdered on a Kashmiri houseboat have branded the murder trial being held in Kashmir "a disgrace" and called for it to be moved to another court and for a new prosecutor to take over.


Vic and Kate Groves say they have lost faith in the Indian justice system after a hearing was not held on Monday - yet again - owing to "civil disturbances" in the state in what, they say, has anyway become a "farcical" trial.

The 144th hearing in the trial of Dutchman Richard de Wit, who is accused of the murder of Sarah Groves, did not took place after Kashmiri separatists called a three-day strike paralysing public services in response to the deaths of 10 people, including seven civilians, in outbreaks of violence over the weekend.

This is the 103rd time a hearing has not proceeded in the trial that has dragged on for 5.5 years and cost Sarah's distraught parents tens of thousands of pounds in legal fees.

Groves, a fitness instructor from Guernsey, was stabbed 46 times at 2am on April 6, 2013 whilst staying on a houseboat on

Dal Lake

after falling in love with the son of a Kashmiri family she had earlier met in Goa whilst on a round-the-world trip.

De Wit, who had been staying on the same houseboat as a tourist for just three days, remains in custody in Srinagar Central Jail and denies the charges. Sarah's parents say he is a paranoid schizophrenic.

The case is on its third judge, fifth public prosecutor and fifth defence counsel.

Vic, 74, told TOI: "The way this trial is being conducted is laughable. This would never happen in a murder trial anywhere else in the world. We are completely appalled with the Indian/Kashmiri legal system. It is not fit for purpose. On one occasion the judge was listening to two trials at the same time, ours a murder and the other one a petty theft."

Sarah's parents have been to Kashmir on six occasions to watch the trial. "The courthouse has chickens and goats running around it, half the evidence was lost in floods in 2014," Vic said. "Recently some evidence in plastic bags was dumped at the bar and the judge refused to accept it because of the way it was presented and the certificate did not match any of the contents."

His wife, Kate, added: "The manner in which the case has been conducted is a disgrace. It should not be being heard in a magistrates' court and needs to be switched to another court. It is not being treated with the correct level of gravitas."

Of the 46 listed witnesses, 13 remain to be heard despite the trial having been going since June 2013. One of those witnesses is the key one: the taxi driver who drove De Wit away from the scene before he was arrested.

"The taxi driver has never appeared in court despite being summoned in March 2014," Vic said. "I want to see all five family members from the houseboat recalled as they have all lied under oath in court. We are certain that they must know more than they have let on, not least Samir's brother Irfan. The walls of a houseboat are very thin. We don't know if Richard did it or not but there are other people with questions to answer. It's like a band of thieves sticking together," he said. "The prosecutors have all been useless. On one occasion one went to court in tatty jeans. They don't even respect the court. We want our prosecutor replaced."

There have been a catalogue of errors in the trial ranging from witnesses not showing up, key exhibits being mishandled and forensically destroyed, judges going on leave on the day of a hearing, power cuts, security alerts, adverse weather, the defendant turning up without a lawyer or not turning up, the defendant being considered mentally ill and civil unrest preventing the court from sitting.

The parents have even sent formal letters outlining their complaints with a series of requests to government figures at the state and national levels, including law ministers, as well as to the various judges and head of court proceedings - and not even received an acknowledgement. "We finally got some help from the chief minister Mehbooba Mufti who wrote to the judge and then before we knew it she was out of a job. The British government has done what it can but Kashmir is in turmoil and chaos," Vic added.