A man found guilty of raping and murdering Irish woman Danielle McLaughlin made a cruel attempt to get away with his sickening crimes.

Danielle, from Buncrana in County Donegal, was found dead in a field in Canacona, an area of Goa popular with holidaymakers, in March 2017. The 28-year-old backpacker had travelled to Goa with a female Australian friend, and the pair were staying in a beach hut.

They had been celebrating Holi – a Hindu spring festival – at a nearby village. Her body was found the next day by a farmer in a field in a remote location.

A post-mortem examination showed the former Liverpool John Moores University student suffered cerebral damage and constriction of the neck, causing her death. Her attacker went on to mutilate her face with a rock to impede identification and destroy evidence of what he had done.

Vikat Bhagat, then 24, a local man who knew Danielle, was found guilty on Friday of her rape and murder at the district and sessions court in south Goa. On Monday, February 17, he avoided the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes.

He has also received a second life sentence for rape, as well as three years for destroying evidence, in a sick attempt to get away with what he had done. The court heard that all sentences will run concurrently.

Bhagat will be eligible to apply for release after 14 years in prison. He has currently spent the last seven years behind bars.

In a statement, Danielle’s mother Andrea Brannigan and sister Joleen McLaughlin Brannigan said justice has “finally been achieved”.

The statement, issued by family solicitor Desmond Doherty, 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.”

Vikram Verma, who assisted the prosecution during the trial, said: “It was a difficult task for the prosecution to put together all the circumstantial evidence to convince the court beyond reasonable doubt about this conviction.” He added that “today their hard work” was recognised.

Danielle’s family travelled to India for the verdict on Friday and expressed relief after the conclusion of what they said was an “eight-year murder trial”. Her family thanked their legal team and their supporters in helping them achieve justice.

Her mother, Andrea Brannigan, told RTE that the conclusion of the case in court allowed her to “finally start grieving for Danielle”. “The last eight years have been tough. We’re constantly bombarding MPs, TDs, embassies, looking for answers.

“I’ve constantly been trying to fight to get justice for Danielle, because Danielle deserved justice so she could finally rest in peace and us as her family and friends can finally grieve for Danielle.

“So the last eight years have been tough. I feel like I can finally start grieving now for Danielle and I’m hoping that the rest of her family, her sisters and her friends, can now also start grieving.”

Family solicitor Mr Doherty said the family are “exhausted” and “anxious to get home”. They are due to fly back to Ireland from India on Monday. He said that, by his last count, there had been more than 250 hearings as part of the court process.

He told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme that Ms Brannigan was allowed legal representation in court during the entirety of the trial to assist the prosecution.

“The process here would be that a family would turn up at a court and be advised what was happening by the prosecution. She actually was centrally involved in the entire process, so it has come to a successful conclusion from that point of view.”

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