Latvian woman murder case in Kerala: Guilty sentenced to life

Udayan and Umesh, the two men convicted of raping and murdering a Latvian woman in Kovalam of Kerala four and a half years ago, have been sentenced to life. On Tuesday, December 6, the Additional Sessions Court in Thiruvananthapuram pronounced the sentence, which will put both the convicts in prison for life. 

The court had pronounced the men guilty of the crime on Friday, December 2.

In April 2018, the Latvian woman from Ireland was found to have been raped and murdered in a forest near Kovalam, her body by then decomposed, and beheaded. She had been missing for over a month. The woman, along with her sister Ilze, had come to India on February 2 and spent more than a month at an Ayurvedic centre in Thiruvananthapuram. The deceased was undergoing treatment for mental health issues.

There was criticism of the lackadaisical investigation of the police in the early days when the woman was still missing. At the time, Ilze knocked on every door, from police to politicians to local people, who could help her with her search for the missing sister. Posters were pinned up and videos uploaded online.

When the victim was finally found, the police had rounded up a few suspects within a week. However, they zeroed in on two of them, Udayan and Umesh, then in their 20s. Both of them were arrested, but because of a reportedly delayed charge sheet, the men were released on bail. Andrew Jordan, the deceased woman’s partner, spoke out about his disappointment in the police’s handling of the case.

Ilze, who had flown back home with her sister’s ashes after the cremation in Kerala, came back for the trial. However, when the trial was delayed for years for years before she moved the High Court for a speedy trial in 2021, three and a half years after her sister was found murdered. The trial began in June this year and Ilze was permitted to watch the proceedings online. On Friday, when the verdict pronounced the accused guilty, Ilze posted a video saying how happy she and the family were to hear it, and thanked a number of people including the prosecution team.