The Irish partner of a woman brutally killed on a yoga retreat in India has branded her murder trial a “farce”.
Two men accused of murdering Latvian Liga Skromane in the Indian state of Kerala went on trial in June, four years after her gruesome death.
The 33-year-old, who had lived in Ireland for five years, disappeared on March 14 2018 after travelling with her sister Ilze for therapy as she struggled with depression.
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Her decomposed remains were found a month later hanging from a tree in a remote mangrove forest.
Andrew Jordan, who lived with Liga in Swords, north Co Dublin, said he had no faith in the justice system in India – and revealed he plans to tell her tragic story in a movie.
He told Irish Sunday Mirror: “It’s a farce. I can’t believe anyone would actually fall for it.
“I laughed when I saw their projection for the end of this year to finish, I’d imagine it will be more like 10 years when it’s finished.”
Prosecutors say the accused men – Udayan, 27, and Umesh, 31 – lured Liga to the swampy forest, drugged her, sexually assaulted her and strangled her.
Liga’s younger sister Ilze was the first person to take to the witness stand in June, with 103 witnesses expected to be heard in the trial.
She told the court how she and her sister came to Kerala where Liga was to undergo therapy at a retreat resort to help treat her depression.
Ilze said Liga went missing on March 14, more than a month after the treatment began, after opting out of a yoga class and taking a rickshaw ride to a tourist beach.
Two weeks ago court proceedings in Thiruvananthapuram were halted after a crime scene photo submitted in evidence went missing.
Judge B V Balakrishnan instructed staff and lawyers to find the exhibit – which was located 45 minutes later inside the case files on the clerk’s table in the courtroom.
Andrew said: “Everything is like that over there, lots of admin and red tape and delays.
“I’m not bothering to stay updated with the trial, as far as I’m concerned it’s all lies.”
Andrew believes the two accused men are merely “scapegoats” and authorities are keen to secure a conviction to “save the tourist dollar”.
He revealed: “I’m emotionally a bit of a basket case at the moment... I just don’t have the head space to follow some sham trial.”
Instead he chooses to forge ahead with plans to set up a foundation in Liga’s memory to help others who are struggling with their mental health.
He revealed: “I think about it every day, I’m working towards it.
“I’ve spent the last five years trying to put the ducks in a row, make it possible, build up a network of people.
“It will have to be a group effort, it is starting to come together a little bit.
“People around me want to set up a healing farm for people who are suffering from depression.
“It would be for people who are in Liga’s position where the system has failed them.
“I haven’t decided whether to do it in Ireland or India yet.”
After Liga went missing Andrew went to India to search for her and forged friendships with locals in Kerala who helped him search for her.
He also reached out to Andrea Brannigan, whose 28-year-old daughter Danielle McLaughlin was raped and murdered in Goa on March 14, 2017.
The night before she was found dead Danielle had attended a party celebrating the traditional Indian holiday of Holi near Canacona beach, a popular holiday spot.
A local man, Vikat Bhagat, has been charged with the rape and murder of Danielle and the trial opened in 2018.
Andrew said: “When the trial started Andrea sent me a message and we talked a bit.
“I will give her a call and check in with her. I’ve no idea how the Goa
trial is going.”
He also revealed that Indian film director Viju Varma, who Andrew first spoke to four years ago, is still keen to tell Liga’s story.
If the project goes ahead he said he is prepared to face his demons and return to the country where Liga’s life was so cruelly taken.
Andrew added: “He’s been
encouraging me for the last three years to write it all down and send it to him.
“He rang me and said he now has funding, and all it needs is my input. If that has legs I will go to India.
“That would be a huge boost to me to get my story out there, to tell how much lies and corruption there is. It could help anyone in a foreign country looking for a loved one, it would definitely have helped me had I known how things work.
“And it would be good to warn single females who are travelling around India to avoid certain times of
year.
“Traditional Indian holidays... they have a sinister side to them as well.
“It’s important not to be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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