Daijiworld Media Network - Colva

Colva, Nov 9: Nearly seven years after a British tourist was sexually assaulted and robbed at Palolem in December 2018, a sessions court has convicted a Chennai native in the case while acquitting him of the charge of destroying evidence.

The convicted accused, Ramchandran Chendayellappa, will appear before the court for a hearing on the quantum of sentence before the punishment is pronounced.

According to the prosecution, the 48-year-old British tourist was carrying three bags and returning to her accommodation from Canacona railway station between 4 am and 4.30 am after her train was delayed.

She alleged that Chendayellappa intercepted her on an isolated stretch of road, dragged her into a roadside field and sexually assaulted her.

The accused allegedly fled with her bags, which contained around Rs 20,000 in cash, her passport, debit cards and other valuables. The woman had been visiting Goa for the past 18 years.

Following the incident, police arrested Chendayellappa from a hotel room on Old Railway Station Road in Margao.

A chargesheet was subsequently filed against him under Sections 376 (rape), 392 (robbery), 394 (voluntarily causing hurt while committing robbery) and 201 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

After examining 22 witnesses during the trial, Principal District and Sessions Judge Sharmila Patil convicted the accused under Sections 376, 392 and 394. However, he was acquitted under Section 201, which deals with causing the disappearance of evidence of an offence or providing false information to screen an offender.

The case had taken a dramatic turn during the trial when Chendayellappa escaped from a police escort team on June 28, 2019, by crawling through a ventilation opening in the South Goa District and Sessions Court building. He was subsequently rearrested.

Police records also showed that the accused was wanted in connection with an alleged Rs 32 lakh heist in the Morjim beach belt.