Mum says she could not identify murdered daughter

The mother of an Irish woman raped and murdered in India almost eight years ago has spoken of how she was never able to identify her daughter after her death.

Danielle McLaughlin, 28, from Buncrana in County Donegal, was found dead in a field in the western state of Goa in March 2017.

Vikat Bhagat was found guilty of raping and murdering Ms McLaughlin and sentenced to life imprisonment earlier this month.

“I could never see her face…he left Danielle (in such a way) that Danielle could never be identified,” Ms McLaughlin’s mother Andrea Brannigan said.

Warning: This page contains distressing details

Ms Brannigan said she had gone to see her daughter after she had been brought home with the help of the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust.

“It didn’t work but they did try. And it’s something I’ll always be grateful for. But I could never view her… I could never see her face,” Ms Brannigan said.

“You’ve always doubts then… I wonder was it her. Days you would have doubts – are you sure its definitely her.”

Ms McLaughlin was identified by hair colour and by a distinctive tattoo, her mother said.

She had been left unrecognisable by her killer who used a rock and bottle during a brutal assault, her mother added.

A second post mortem examination found brain damage and strangulation as the cause of death.

Danielle’s family sat beside Bahgat during court proceedings.

“That was hard. I could see no remorse,” she told BBC News NI.

Ms Brannigan added: “I’ve no feelings for him because he doesn’t deserve my feelings. Only Danielle does.”

She hopes he is never released, and that “no family or friends ever go through the pain that we’re going through because he robbed the world of beauty and of somebody who was going to do a lot of good in this world.”

Danielle was the eldest of six daughters, her mum said, adding she doted on all her siblings, and they all looked up to her.

Ms McLaughlin travelled to India in February 2017.

She was there for two weeks before she was murdered.

The Liverpool John Moores University student had been staying in a beach hut with an Australian friend.

The pair had been celebrating Holi, a Hindu festival, in a nearby village.

She left the village at night and her body was found the next day by a local farmer in an isolated spot.

People always remembered the psychology and sociology student’s “big smile and infectious laugh,” her mother said.

Danielle had struggled in childhood with dyslexia, Ms Brannigan said, but had loved writing in her diaries and grew up to be “a brilliant friend and an amazing sister”.

“The girls miss her terrible. I miss Danielle as I used to go to her with all my problems. I miss talking to her. We talked every day.”

Danielle’s mum said she was “a free spirt” who had loved travelling in Australia and India – where she had helped to build schools and also volunteered in an orphanage.

“She trusted everybody,” Ms Brannigan said.

“That would be part of the reason why this happened because she did trust everybody.”

He family now hold on to the “many happy memories” and want the world to know of Danielle’s genrousity and kindness.

“She was always so kind. She was kind up until she passed away. She didn’t see evil,” Ms Brannigan said.”

Rape victims cannot usually be named under Indian law. Their identities are often hidden in a bid to protect them from being shunned in society.

In this case, Ms McLaughlin’s family have spoken to the media to raise awareness of her case.