THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Nearly four years after the rape and murder of a Latvian woman tourist in Kovalam, the trial in the case will begin on June 1.The trial will be held at the Thiruvananthapuram Principal Sessions Court. The court has scheduled it on continuous working days till June 21.
Though the chargesheet was submitted on June 22, 2019, the trial got delayed for various reasons. Last year, the High Court ordered a speedy trial after the tourist’s relatives approached the court. The charges against the accused were read out to them on January 6. The court will examine 104 witnesses, including the Ilze Skromane, the murdered woman’s sister.
The 33-year-old Latvian national, who lived in Dublin, had travelled to India for traditional treatment for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. She went missing from an ayurvedic centre on March 14, 2018. Her decomposed body was later recovered from a mangrove forest at Panathura near Kovalam on April 20. The special investigation team which probed the case concluded that the woman was strangled to death after rape.
The police had arrested Udayan and Umesh, two local youths who work in tourism sector, in connection with the murder. But they were out on bail after police failed to file the chargesheet on time. Soon after her murder, the woman’s partner Andrew Jordan said he was not satisfied with the investigation by police and demanded a CBI probe.