The Murder Of Sarah Groves In Srinagar And The Curious Case Of Accused Richard De Wit

After seven-feet tall Dutch tourist Richard De Wit allegedly murdered 24-year-old English woman Sarah Elizabeth Groves on April 6, 2013, in Srinagar, Jamu and Kashmir, he told her boyfriend Saeed Ahmad Shoda that Devil had taken over him.

De Wit launched into a frenzied attack on Sarah when the Devil allegedly took over him and stabbing her to death. She was found dead in a houseboat named New Beauty.

Ten years down the line, De Wit in one of the hearings described the whole case against him as a conspiracy of the Dutch government, according to the lawyers. Last year, he refused to wear warm clothes in the winter. He would also lock himself in the bathroom during video conferencing hearing of the case. 

The court got De Wit examined by psychiatrists and he was diagnosed as schizophrenic. However, he refused to take medicines and clothes, forcing the court to shift him to Jammu jail. 

The trial of De Wit has been suspended. Lawyers who have been associated with the case say once the accused appears mentally fit, he will be put on trial again. The lawyers refuse to accept the accused’s assertion of a larger Dutch conspiracy in the case, calling it “nonsense”.

The murder of Sarah Groves

Sarah was found dead inside her room in the New Beauty houseboat in Dal Lake in Srinagar on April 6, 2013. 

Sarah had traveled to Srinagar in February 2013. She was staying in the houseboat of her boyfriend Saeed Ahmad Shoda, whom she had met in a resort in Goa. The police arrested 43-year-old De Wit around 77 km away from the scene within hours of the alleged murder. 

De Wit of Ridder Kerk in Netherlands was putting up in the New Beauty houseboat and was trying to leave the Kashmir Valley some hours after allegedly committing the murder, according to the charge sheet.

According to the case file, De Wit had told a team of psychiatrists at the Government Medical College, Srinagar, in 2013 that he used cannabis and heroin during his last three days of stay in the houseboat. The psychiatric opinion report says De Wit presumes that the Dutch government is after him and they monitor his activities as he is believed —as per him— to be part of a political party opposing the government.

Paranoia of Dutch government or schizophrenia?

According to the case file, De Wit’s birth and developmental milestones seemed normal. He went to school and was occasionally bullied at school. But he was not good at his studies. He wanted to become a teacher but left his studies and joined politics. He became a member of the right-wing party where he was elected as a councilor and served for three years as a councilor before being pressured by family members to leave the party.

De Wit told doctors that he has had several relationships but none lasted more than a year except with one Norwegian woman with who he was for three years and which ended after he met his wife.

“He is currently married to his wife from Thailand with two daughters aged 12 and 10 years,” says the case file.

De Wit described himself as a relaxed person. He was able to deal with people normally and could handle stress easily. He enjoyed traveling, particularly to mountains. He had impulsive behaviour and was untrustful and suspicious of other people. He was not sensitive or prone to worry. He denied being irritable or argumentative.

De Wit reported that after resigning as a councilor, he became convinced that the Dutch government continued to monitor his activities. He believed the government wanted him to work as an agent on their behalf and to reveal information about the political party which he refused.

According to De Wit, once the government set its eyes on someone who they believe is against them, they never let him off, which is a reason that they continue to monitor and follow him and engage spies from amongst his friends and relatives to keep a watch on him by bribing them. While at home, the Dutch government used to monitor him by tapping his phone and monitoring him through cameras of computers, said De Wit to a team of doctors.

According to De Wit, the psychologist that he was seeing in 2010 threatened to lock him up and torture him to death in custody. De Wit believes she was working for the Dutch government and was not a real psychologist.

In July 2012, De Wit went to Switzerland with his daughters on summer holidays. While on holiday, he reported that someone who was staying in the hotel along with them asked his daughters about the Dutch Queen. According to him, his children did not see anything wrong in being asked about the Queen but he was convinced that it was all part of the plot.

On October 1, 2012, De Wit reached Kenya. He stayed in the city of Mombasa where he planned to settle down and start a new family. He started a relationship with a Kenyan national who after five weeks claimed that she was pregnant and he was the father of that child. 

“According to Mr Richard, she had entered into a relationship and claimed that he was the father of her child in order to get a visa so that she could come to Europe to settle down. According to him, he could not father a child as he was being poisoned by the Dutch government for quite some time which had rendered him impotent,” says the case file.

While in Kenya, De Wit became suspicious that his wife might have cheated on him. He, however, believed that the Dutch government was somehow involved in it and wanted to isolate him.

Later, De Wit flew to Dubai where he was approached by a man who offered to smuggle gold which he refused to do. The man, later on, admitted that he was sent by the Dutch government and warned him not to return otherwise he would be arrested, said De Wit.

“When asked as to how the Dutch government could keep track of him, he reported that they had put GPS tracking system in his shoes,” the report adds.

From Dubai, De Wit had planned to go to South America to settle down there and disguise himself but changed his plan and flew to Nepal as he wanted to visit the Himalayas and see the birthplace of Buddha. Richard reached Nepal on December 20, 2012. In Nepal, he made quite a few friends and after moving around he decided to move to India via road. 

In Delhi, De Wit stayed in a hotel where he believed he was poisoned by the hotel staff because they were paid by the Dutch government. He then planned to move to Kashmir. He reached Jammu and then hired a pooled taxi for Srinagar.

According to the report on reaching Srinagar, De Wit was pressured by houseboat owners to hire the houseboat which he reluctantly agreed.

The report adds, “During his stay on the second houseboat (New Beauty), he met this lady (Sarah Groves) several times, and, when asked about the content of the conversation, he said it was a general conversation and she wanted to go to Nepal as he had just come from Nepal. She was asking him about his visit and the places of attraction in Nepal. He also reported that she might have been a part of the plot and that the Dutch government might have hired her as well to keep an eye on him. Mr Richard reported that she usually spent quite a lot of time in the kitchen and was able to keep an eye on him.”

“When asked whether he had any weapons with him, he said he had one knife and bought another one from Srinagar as he intended to go on trekking and it would be helpful to cut ropes. He also admitted that he used to carry them with him sometimes when he went out.

“He showed no signs of remorse or regret about the alleged murder and was not sure whether he would hire a lawyer saying he needed to discuss it with his family because if found guilty, he might be abandoned by his family.”

The doctors had said he has a “well systematised delusional belief around the Dutch government, accusing it following him”.

Justice for Sarah Groves

A Facebook page named Justice for Sarah Groves was created by her friends to raise awareness about the trial of the case in India. 

In its last message, the page says, “It is 3,000 days since she died. Her nearest and dearest and all her many friends around the world find this time of year especially sad and difficult. These feelings have been exacerbated over the years by the protracted and stuttering trial of the man accused of her murder. The trial started on 3rd June 2013, again just over eight years ago. There have been more than 225 scheduled hearings in the case, the vast majority of which have been unproductive. Witnesses have failed to attend court; one has died, and some are no longer traceable due to the passage of time. We will update more when we can, but in the meantime, our prayers and thoughts are with Sarah’s family and nearest and dearest.”