Thursday, October 09, 2008

Goa;Waiters kill Australian at Calangute

Waiters kill Australian at Calangute
Tourist Picked Up Fight Over Serving Beer
Preetu Nair | TNN

Panaji: An Australian tourist had to pay with his life in Goa on Wednesday after he picked up an argument with a restaurant waiter over how a beer should be served. John Kelly, 65, had gone to Calangute’s Club City Restaurant around 8 am and ordered a beer. However, he was not happy with the waiter’s service and scolded him.
“This resulted in an argument between the two. A group of waiters then beat up the Australian and tore up his clothes,” said a police official. Pushed around, the tourist fell to the floor, he said. Kelly was immediately rushed to Goa Medical College and Hospital, where he breathed his last at 5 pm. He had arrived in Goa on September 29.
“From what we have gathered, the foreigner suffered internal injuries to which he succumbed. We have detained two persons—a waiter and a security guard of the restaurant,” said superintendent of police (North) Bosco George.
Calangute police inspector Tushar Vernekar said, “We have registered a case of murder and are investigating the matter.”
Police said Kelly was rushed to hospital in a critical condition and passed away before they could register his statement. Based on information provided by a friend who was with Kelly in hospital, the police rounded up few of the waiters for interrogation and came to know what had happened.
The post-mortem will be conducted on Thursday.
This is not the first time that a foreign tourist to the state has been attacked. Early this year, British teenager Scarlett Keeling was allegedly raped and murdered by two locals. In another incident recently, a Russian woman was beaten up by locals, forcing the Russian consulate to write to the state chief minister alleging “national or racial intolerance”.
A couple of years back, another tourist to Goa from the UK, Stephen Bennett, was found murdered.

October 09,2008, The Times of India, Goa edition