CALANGUTE MURDER
Kelly’s knife found, claim hotel staff
Preetu Nair | TNN
Calangute: The knife which was allegedly carried by Australian national John Kelly to the Club City restaurant in Calangute has been found. However, the Calangute police said that after examining the knife, the fingerprint expert said that there are no fingerprint marks on it. This, the police explained, could be either due to exposure to sunlight and dew.
The restaurant’s bartender, Ervell, said that around 8.45 pm on Saturday while they were shifting flower pots just outside the restaurant they came across the knife.
“I called a staffer who was working on the day of the incident to verify whether it was the same knife which the foreigner was carrying and had allegedly put to waiter Jaikrishna’s throat. One of the witnesses, Matthew Rehman, who works as a cook in the restaurant said that this was the knife being carried by the foreigner,” Ervell told TOI.
“On that day, Kelly had came into the restaurant’s kitchen at around 7.30 am drunk and threatened me with the knife. Then he suddenly apologized and left to sit below a mango tree adjacent to the restaurant where he was drinking.
“He returned later at around 8 am and then got into an altercation with Jaikrishna and threatened him with the knife which forced him to react in self-defence,” Rehman said.
Meanwhile, the police, which had conducted a panchanama at the site soon after the case was registered
as a murder, said that they had fully checked the premises and had not located the knife.
They also said that they were surprised with the sudden appearance of the knife, which has been found just half a metre from the spot Kelly had fallen after he was pushed by the waiter and security guard.
October 12, 2008, The Times of India, Goa edition
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Please find encl. an Eye Witness account that contains the text of the signed eyewitness ( signed by numerous individuals who were witness to the episode & available at Club City, Calangute, Goa.)This is being sent to the media as well -
Series of events prior to the unfortunate death of Mr. John Kelly; an Australian citizen on holiday/ temporarily residing in Goa prior to his death as per eyewitnesses of the incident.
Mr. Kelly was first spotted arriving at our licensed round the clock restaurant & bar at around 0800 hours on 8th, October; 2008; in a condition which can be best described as not in full control of his senses; which could be due to a wrong frame of mind/ disturbed/ depressed/ intoxicated due to substance abuse or any other reason which would be obvious to either those who knew him well or otherwise be medically/ otherwise investigated. He had his shirt buttons completely open & carried a couldn’t careless attitude towards others in general which is derived from the fact that he was not appropriately dressed & started impromptu conversations with anyone & everyone who was in his path/ vicinity. On arriving at a table of his choice, he immediately started a conversation with a group of people seated across who probably misunderstood his probing & intrusive conversation as mere friendliness n’ responded back in a cordial manner. He immediately called out to a waiter & ordered a round of drinks for them. He was loud, abusive, racially discriminating in his speech which was aimed at everyone in his vision which seemed like signs of a totally intoxicated person with not much bearing of his surroundings. On witnessing this, the others decided not to accept any drinks on his behalf & thus directed the waiter not to serve them any such drinks on his behalf. Most people preferred to stay out of his path as he seemed to be having some kind of mood swings as he oscillated frequently between friendly conversation & uncalled aggression in the form of physical movement, aimless murmuring, loud outbursts n’ targeted aggression including moving around the entire premise & stopping short of individuals who had no choice but to hear him out & wait it out till such time as he would move to the next target. In one such move he bumped into one of the cooks & pointed a knife (a foldable large knife) which he was carrying with him. He pointed the knife at the cook’s stomach while being unable to keep himself steady. The cook had no choice but to hold his ground & pray that he doesn’t strike. He suddenly apologised to the cook for his behaviour & moved back towards his table. This is when he shouted & abused at the waiter & summoned him regarding the drinks ordered for his neighbouring table. He abused at him left right n’ centre & the one sided conversation can be best described as outright provocation in the form of direct & indirect verbal abuse, racial discrimination n’ insult to everything that the individual stands for including his national pride. This is when the waiter who was not very articulate tried to match him for his words; to which Mr. Kelly responded by holding the waiter by his head & putting the knife to his throat & slowly exerting pressure. The waiter moved his head down to the table with the pressure of the knife & heard out another round of verbal abuse. Once Mr. Kelly had prolonged the situation to his full satisfaction he loosened a bit & temporarily the knife lost contact with the waiter’s throat. This was when the waiter found his opportunity to free himself from his grip & nudged him in the face. Seeing the chaos, the manager who was so far pleading to Mr. Kelly to let go of the waiter also got into the scuffle & simultaneously the Security guard got in too. In the scuffle that followed they managed to free the knife out of his hand, pushed & nudged him away. It seems that he tripped over one of the seats made of marble & landed near two other marble seats & a speaker in a tight corner where his ribs probably came in the direct path of the fall. As he was completely intoxicated & did not have control over his physical sense his reflexes probably did not allow him to break the fall; which meant that the direct impact would have come on to his ribs while landing. This is when the boys backed out & he got up & looked for his wallet. One of the boys found the wallet & handed it back to him. He then abused & shouted again & walked out of the premise. The manager rightly called up the Calangute police station from his mobile as it had been a major incident. After a very short while, the police turned up with Mr. Kelly along; whom they may have found walking along the road & heard out the details. They asked Mr. Kelly his version but Mr. Kelly by this time probably gauged how wrong he was through this incident & so decided to hush up the matter & just slip away the moment the police probed him about the knife. The police realized that Mr. Kelly was in the wrong & that none of the parties would probably be interested in taking this any further; told the boys to be available around the premise in case they were required while they look for him. We do not know what happened after this till such time as the police came back to us in the evening to round up all the boys involved in this incident as the news was that Mr. Kelly had died. We would not like to speak about any specifics which are under investigation & would thus not like to debate right from wrong at this stage but have already started the process of introspection so as to ensure that even though a repetition of such an incident seems very remote as most people would never land themselves into such a situation; we would still like to leave no stone unturned in contemplating how this could have been avoided. At such a moment our heart goes out firstly to the near & dear ones of Mr. Kelly who would feel completely shattered & to the boys who have got stuck into this situation which seems to be forced onto them & all our colleagues at our place of work who have had to go through the direct & indirect consequences of the incident.
In the end we would like to say that we come from a country that believes in the ideals of the Mahatmas who taught us to offer the other cheek if someone was to strike us at one but are sure that even they would have advised to react differently if someone was to keep a knife on ones throat & be fully capable of using it. We would also like to state that our bar at Club City is referred to as the ‘Boomerang Bar’ which effectively suggests our soft corner & affection towards the Australian way of life, ethos n’ the people in general & would continue to welcome our friends from Australia & other parts of the world to our land of plenty where we look forward to provide the safest possible environment to one and all as unity in diversity is not just a phrase for us but actually a way of life in India; a country with over a billion people from all walks of life imaginable.
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