A DUTCH backpacker accused of murdering 24-year-old British tourist Sarah Groves on a houseboat in Kashmir has said he was smoking cannabis before the attack and "the Devil took over my body".
Richard de Wit is said to have stabbed Groves more than 40 times on the New Beauty houseboat, which is moored on Kashmir's Dal Lake in the foothills of the Himalayas. De Wit tried to escape after the attack, which took place on Saturday morning, but his small rowing boat capsized and he was forced to swim ashore. The 43-year-old was eventually arrested more than 50 miles from the lake as he tried to hail a taxi.
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"I want him hanged," Shoda said. "He had no reason to kill her. She didn't do anything wrong. I just don't understand.'
The Deputy Inspector General of Kashmir Police, Ahfadul Mujtaba, said: ‘We put him in front of the magistrates today and we now have him in our custody for a further ten days. It is understood there are no other suspects in the case.
Groves set off for India in July 2012. Before she left she posted a message on Facebook that said: "'Quit your job, buy a ticket, get a tan, fall in love, never return."
The British backpacker had become part of her boyfriend's family who are said to be devastated by her death. Shoda's mother Hafiza described Groves as a "shy, lovely girl who called me mother in Kashmiri".
The attack is another blow to the Indian tourist industry which has suffered a 25 per cent drop in foreign visitors since a spate of sexual assaults on women over the past few months.