Two beach shack workers Samson D’souza and Placido Carvalho were acquitted by the Goa children’s court on Friday. They had been accused of sexually assaulting Scarlett after giving her a cocktail of drugs and leaving her unconscious in the shallow waters.Her body was found in the early hours of February 19, 2008.”I am devastated,” said Scarlett’s mother, Fiona MacKeown, who came to Goa hoping her daughter would finally get justice. “It has been long time of waiting. Waiting for this day. I am nervous and hope that the struggle and wait will end,” Fiona had said before the verdict.

The case was first investigated by the Goa police and was dismissed as a suicide but it was later handed over to the CBI, which eventually filed a charge-sheet against the two accused.

Over the years, three public prosecutors and five judges have changed in the case.

An eyewitness, a British national, Michael Mannion, did not testify after he reportedly had a nervous breakdown. Mr Mannion had told the police that he saw one of the two men sexually assaulting the teenager.

Scarlett’s death had thrown the spotlight on Goa’s drugs underbelly, with her mother also accusing the local police of trying to cover up the case, claiming there was a drugs mafia at work.