A British tourist killed in India was stabbed 45 times during the fatal attack, according to Indian police who have reported that the Dutch suspect in the case has "confessed" to the alleged crime.
Sarah Groves was on holiday in Srinigar
Sarah Groves, a fitness instructor was killed in a Kashmir houseboat and the
suspect was arrested after allegedly fleeing the scene. Police are also
investigating whether or not she was sexually assaulted before she was
stabbed to death on a floating hotel.
Richard De Wit, 43, was arrested in the early hours of Saturday morning after
he fled the New Beauty houseboat where the 24 year old Guernsey personal
trainer was found dead in a pool of blood.
A post-mortem examination said Miss Groves bled to death from 45 wounds.
Miss Groves, a keen climber and charity fundraiser, had been staying on the
boat for two months after beginning a relationship with the owner's son
while on holiday in Goa.
Miss Groves had been staying on the New Beauty houseboat
She had been planning to leave this week for a trekking trip in Nepal and to continue on to New Zealand.
She was found dead on the houseboat by two of owner AR Shoda's sons Adil and Irfan after their mother heard noises in the lake at around 2.30 in the morning. Their other son, Samir, who said he was Ms Groves' boyfriend and normally shared a room with her on the houseboat, was away staying with friends.
When they checked the houseboat, they found the doors to both Mr De Wit and Ms Groves' rooms open and Ms Groves dead with stab wounds to her neck. They saw Mr De Wit escaping across the lake, they said.
He was was later arrested in a taxi just under 50 miles away and taken to Srinagar's Ram Munshi Bagh Police station.
Mujtada said the Shoda family had not heard the victim's screams during what appears to have been a frenzied attack and struggle, because their own bedrooms were too far away - up to ten metres. The wooden walls of the houseboat may have muffled the sound.
At the police station where Mr De Wit is being in held, Samir Shoda today told the Telegraph he spoke to Ms Groves' businessman father Victor, 70, on the telephone last night and that he had been distraught. "He was crying, it was emotional. He said 'we just want to put this guy in prison for a long time,'" he said
Richard de Wit has allegedly confessed to killing Sarah Groves
His mother Hafiza said Ms Groves had visited Srinagar's revered White Mosque with her for Friday prayers on the day she was killed. They had returned to the houseboat where Sarah had helped her to cook a vegetable curry for dinner and washed the dishes after before returning to her room to speak to her father on her mobile phone.
"She stayed with me in the kitchen watching the TV news. After dinner she helped me to wash the dishes. At 12.30 she said 'I'm tired. I'm going to sleep.' I said you can sleep with me because Samir is not here. But she wanted privacy to read her book and she went to her room," she said. She had also called her father.
At 2.30 in the morning, Hafiza said she went outside to put on the water heaters and saw their shikara rowing boat "moving from side to side." She called her two sons to investigate and check the guest rooms, where they found Sarah's body and Mr DeWit missing.
"The door was already broken, I put my torch on and the was blood everywhere. I couldn't touch her, I called her but she did not move. There was blood on her neck," Irfan told The Telegraph. "We had not heard any screaming, my mother just heard [someone] jump in the lake," he added
Miss Groves had been staying on the New Beauty houseboat
She had been planning to leave this week for a trekking trip in Nepal and to continue on to New Zealand.
She was found dead on the houseboat by two of owner AR Shoda's sons Adil and Irfan after their mother heard noises in the lake at around 2.30 in the morning. Their other son, Samir, who said he was Ms Groves' boyfriend and normally shared a room with her on the houseboat, was away staying with friends.
When they checked the houseboat, they found the doors to both Mr De Wit and Ms Groves' rooms open and Ms Groves dead with stab wounds to her neck. They saw Mr De Wit escaping across the lake, they said.
He was was later arrested in a taxi just under 50 miles away and taken to Srinagar's Ram Munshi Bagh Police station.
Mujtada said the Shoda family had not heard the victim's screams during what appears to have been a frenzied attack and struggle, because their own bedrooms were too far away - up to ten metres. The wooden walls of the houseboat may have muffled the sound.
At the police station where Mr De Wit is being in held, Samir Shoda today told the Telegraph he spoke to Ms Groves' businessman father Victor, 70, on the telephone last night and that he had been distraught. "He was crying, it was emotional. He said 'we just want to put this guy in prison for a long time,'" he said
Richard de Wit has allegedly confessed to killing Sarah Groves
His mother Hafiza said Ms Groves had visited Srinagar's revered White Mosque with her for Friday prayers on the day she was killed. They had returned to the houseboat where Sarah had helped her to cook a vegetable curry for dinner and washed the dishes after before returning to her room to speak to her father on her mobile phone.
"She stayed with me in the kitchen watching the TV news. After dinner she helped me to wash the dishes. At 12.30 she said 'I'm tired. I'm going to sleep.' I said you can sleep with me because Samir is not here. But she wanted privacy to read her book and she went to her room," she said. She had also called her father.
At 2.30 in the morning, Hafiza said she went outside to put on the water heaters and saw their shikara rowing boat "moving from side to side." She called her two sons to investigate and check the guest rooms, where they found Sarah's body and Mr DeWit missing.
"The door was already broken, I put my torch on and the was blood everywhere. I couldn't touch her, I called her but she did not move. There was blood on her neck," Irfan told The Telegraph. "We had not heard any screaming, my mother just heard [someone] jump in the lake," he added
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