Scarlett Keeling death 'accidental', says defence lawyer

The lawyer defending a man accused of causing the dath North Devon teenager Scarlett Keeling in India has told a court it was "accidental".

Merlin D'Souza - who is defending Samson D'Souza - ruled his client out of committing the crime and said there had been interference in the investigation in Goa that linked Samson and Placido Carvalho to Scarlett's death.

He also said Samson D'Souza had been targeted because he was defenceless.

The lawyer also pointed out that in the autopsy morphine and cocaine were found in Scarlett's system, indicating she was already intoxicated when she arrived at the shack where Samson was working and Placido was sitting.

D’Souza said the investigating agencies (Goa police and Central Bureau of Investigation) was purposely blind to the fact that she was already drugged and failed to probe into who had administered her the narcotics.

He said the detailed forensic examination had shown no further abormality in Scarlett's body and that there was no sign of a scuffle by her during her death.

The defence lawyer said that the girl’s lifestyle was not like a normal child in India before the judge interrupted him claiming that this aspect (about lifestyle) has nothing to do with the current case.

Advocate Pravin Naik representing Placido Carvalho, second accused in the case, argued that there was no witness on record to state that his client administered drugs to the girl in the shack where she was last seen before her death.

He also said that there is nothing on record to prove that Placido provoked her to take drugs.