MARGAO, Feb. 17 -- Team Herald

The sensational eight-year trial in the Danielle McLaughlin rape-murder came to a close on Monday, with the Additional District and Sessions Court, Margao, sentencing 34-year-old Vikat Bhagat to rigorous life imprisonment.

Irish-British national McLaughlin, originally from County Donegal, Ireland, was 28 years old when she was brutally murdered in

Canacona, Goa, on March 14, 2017. McLaughlin, who had traveled to Goa as part of a backpacking trip, was discovered

dead in a secluded field in Deubaug, Canacona, the day after the crime.

Along with the murder conviction, the court also sentenced Bhagat to a separate term of rigorous life imprisonment for raping McLaughlin.

Bhagat was found guilty of charges ...