PANAJI: Goa Children’s Court , on Friday, sentenced labourer Deepak Kumar Ganesh RaiManto to life imprisonment in the case of kidnapping, rape and murder of a three-year-old girl in Quepem in 2012.“The evidence brought on record by the prosecution is sufficient to prove the fact that the accused is the last person seen with the victim girl,” president of Goa children’s court Vandana Tendulkar said in her order.The accused caused evidence to disappear by hiding the body, the court held, adding that he covered the face with a cement bag and poured sand over it, the court said.The court relied on the testimonies of a number of witnesses who stated that they saw the accused sitting with some children, distributing sweets to them and proceeding with a small girl to an under-construction building.The prosecution has proved that, on May 20, 2012, the accused proceeded to an under-construction building, at noon, and two days later, the body of the child was recovered from the building, the court noted.The shirt button of the accused along with the child’s belongings were also found at the site of the incident.Public prosecutor N Marathe argued that the maximum punishment prescribed for the offence be imposed on the accused by taking into consideration the tender age of the victim, who was just three years, 10 months at the time of the offence.Advocate H Naik representing the accused argued that the accused was a married person and the sole earning member of the family and as such has been in custody since his arrest in 2012.During the course of evidence, the prosecution examined 33 witnesses in support of the case.The victim had come to Goa from Mumbai along with her mother and two siblings to spend the summer holidays at the grandfather’s home. The mother was home while the children were playing outside. On learning that his daughter had gone missing, the father had come to Goa to search for her.A worker at the construction site found her body and reported this to the contractor, who in turn filed a complaint and was instrumental in setting the law in motion.The accused, a native of Bihar, who was 21 at the time, has been convicted for murder, rape, kidnapping and giving false information under the Indian Penal Code. He has also been convicted of child sexual assault under the Goa Children’s Act, 2003.

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