A man who was found guilty of raping and murdering 28-year-old Danielle McLaughlin in India in 2017 has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Ms McLaughlin, from Co Donegal, was found dead in a field in the western state of Goa in March 2017.
She had been brutally raped and murdered.
Vikat Bhagat was convicted at the District and Sessions Court in south Goa, India, on Friday.
Man found guilty of rape and murder of Irish woman Danielle McLaughlin in India
Today, the same court sentenced Bhagat to “rigorous” life imprisonment for murder.
He also received a second life term for rape, and three years for destroying evidence. The court heard all the sentences will run concurrently.
Danielle McLaughlin was killed just two weeks after she arrived in India on a backpacking trip.
Her mother and sister had travelled to Goa for the verdict on Friday.
In a statement read outside the court in Goa on Friday, her mother Andrea Brannigan and sister Joleen McLaughlin Brannigan said justice has “finally been achieved”.
“Danielle’s family and friends are so thankful to both embassies, public prosecutors, lawyers and investigating officers involved in our fight for justice,” they said.
“They have treated her like their daughter and have tirelessly fought for her. We are so thankful that their hard work has paid off and that Bhagat has been found guilty of taking Danielle from us.
“We have lost nearly eight years of our lives fighting for Danielle and we are so thankful that we can now start grieving her immeasurable loss.
“She made the most of her 28 years and lived every day to the fullest. She was so kind and always so happy. She didn’t deserve what he put her through.
Danielle McLaughlin
“We are so grateful to be able to be here for the verdict and see Goa, that Danielle loved so much”.
Family solicitor Desmond Doherty issued a statement on behalf of the family that said: “There was no other suspect or gang involved in Danielle’s death and (Vikat) Bhagat was solely responsible for cruelly ending her beautiful life.
“We have endured what has been effectively an eight-year murder trial with many delays and problems, right until the end, all taking place thousands of miles away from Danielle’s home in Buncrana, County Donegal.
“We are content now with the judicial confirmation in public of what we already sadly knew. What further legal processes now take place we will observe.
“We are grateful to the court for allowing us, as is our right under the Indian legal system, representation at the trial.
Vikat Bhagat
“We wish to thank our lawyer in Goa, Mr Vikram Varma for attending to all that for us.
“We are also grateful to our lawyer back home, Desmond Doherty, who worked closely with Vikram in explaining to us the trial process and events at the trial.
“Without this joint legal representation we had, we would have been lost in the process. This was an eight-year murder trial that has been very tiring. We are glad it is over.”
Andrea Brannigan and Joleen Mc Laughlin Brannigan also said the quest for truth and justice is “no easy matter, as we have discovered”.
mother on facing murderer Vikat Bhagat in court
“In memory of Danielle, we stayed patient and respectful of the Indian legal system with the aid also of the British and Irish consular staff,” they said in the statement.
“We are glad to have visited the area where Danielle spent her last days on this earth, painful and difficult as that was.
“We now hope not only that Danielle can rest in peace, but that we as a family can have some peace and comfort knowing that the person who brutally raped and murdered our precious Danielle has been convicted.”