The heartbroken family of Buncrana woman Danielle McLaughlin have said justice has “finally been achieved”.

Danielle was raped and killed in India just two weeks after arriving there in 2017.

Vikat Bhagat was found guilty at the District and Sessions Court in south Goa, India, today of her rape and murder. Bhagat could face life imprisonment, but prosecutors have asked for the death penalty.

Danielle’s mother Andrea Brannigan and sister Joleen McLaughlin Brannigan spoke of their feelings in a statement issued by family solicitor Desmond Doherty.

They 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.

“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.”

Ms Brannigan and Ms McLaughlin Brannigan also said the quest for truth and justice is “no easy matter, as we have discovered”.

“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 added.

“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.”

Danielle was 28 years old when her life was cut short on what should have been a life-changing trip to India. An adventurous and fun-loving young woman, she hoped to do yoga teaching training. She was just two weeks into her trip when she attended a Holi party near Canacona beach in the south of Goa. She was found dead in a field on 14th March 2017. Bhagat was arrested within hours.

“We had Danielle in our lives for 28 years and we wish we could have seen the woman she would have became but because of Vikat she will forever be 28. We will never see her smile or hear her laugh and we appreciate all that they have done for our campaign fighting for this outcome. We have lost nearly 8 years of our lives fighting for Danielle and we are so thankful that we now can start grieving her immeasurable loss,” her family said.