Grief-stricken father of murdered British woman fears justice will never be served after 176th court hearing

THE grieving father of a British woman who was violently murdered in India has voiced his fear that his family will never see justice after attending 176 unsuccessful hearings.

Sarah Groves, 24, died after being repeatedly stabbed on a houseboat she shared with a local family in April 2013. The young woman, who was described by her family as an adventurous traveller, had spent seven weeks with her new boyfriend and his family after meeting him in Goa. 

Dutchman Richard de Wit has been charged with the callous murder, however a trial still hasn’t taken place, where over 170 hearings have been scheduled but still no progress has been made on the case.

De Wit, who stands at nearly 7ft tall, was arrested after allegedly fleeing the scene but strenuously denies being the culprit. Sarah’s mother Kate, who has travelled to India with her husband on several occasions, however believes others could have been involved in her daughter’s death.

She believes that no one on the boat raised the alarm for more than an hour, where she previously stated how she is tortured by images of her daughter’s screams for help going unanswered.

The reasons behind the unsuccessful hearings are plentiful and include the judge not turning up to court and even a lack of security guards for the defendant, with a witness even disappearing before they were due to give evidence. 

Speaking to the local press on his dismay that justice has still not be served for his daughter, father Victor Groves explained that the next hearing is scheduled for mid-January after today’s (December 1) hearing was cancelled due to an annual two-week shut-down of the court system in Kashmir.

He added that the news has left him experiencing another frustrating and disappointing year in the history of the trial, where the family are no where nearer knowing what happened on that dreadful night, or who was responsible.

In 2019, there had been 30 scheduled hearings during which only one out of the 46 witnesses listed by the prosecution completed their evidence. Of these, 13 could not take place because a key player was not in attendance and a further 12 were lost through civil unrest, with another being cancelled due to bad weather.