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The only person ever formally accused of murdering Sarah Groves has faced numerous delays in his trial, with almost a decade spent behind bars and the trial currently suspended due to his poor mental health.
Richard de Wit reportedly admitted killing Miss Groves soon after her death in the early hours of 6 April 2013.
However, since those initial days after her death Mr de Wit has changed his story and has consistently denied killing Miss Groves over the past decade.
Pictured: Richard de Wit has been held in custody in Srinagar since Spring 2013. The current status of his trial is unknown as it was suspended in 2021 due to growing concerns over Mr de Wit's mental health.
He has met both of Miss Groves parents and shaken their hands. He told them to their faces that he did not kill their daughter.
Both Vic and Kate Groves regret taking part in that momentary show of civility prompted by the man accused of killing their youngest child.
"We ended up talking with him," said Mr Groves. "We've talked to him a few times, and he shook our hands, (and said) 'I really did not do this', said Mrs Groves.
"He looked me in the eye twice and said that," continued Mr Groves. "I'd rather not have had that relationship and not met him. It would have been a lot more objective if it had not happened."
Pictured: Vic and Kate Groves have both met Richard de Wit.
Mr and Mrs Groves seem almost resigned to the fact that the trial of the man accused of killing their daughter may never reach a reliable conclusion either by convicting or clearing him.
The case was suspended in 2021 as Mr de Wit's mental health reached such a poor state that he could no longer reasonably be expected to attend hearings or understand the trial.
"He's not a well man," said Mr Groves. "We don't think he's well physically either," added Mrs Groves.
The suspension of the case came after years of incessant delays and disruption to the case with civil unrest in Kashmir, floods in the area, and then covid all preventing hearings from taking place.
Delays have also been caused by the Judge and prosecution and defence lawyers being replaced without warning, the Judge going on holiday despite having scheduled hearings, witnesses not turning up to court, or disappearing, and evidence being lost. One witness has died during the intervening years.
Mr and Mrs Groves said they grew frustrated when they saw first hand how the trial was conducted.
"It was a farce," said Mr Groves, adding, "it was nothing like a proper trial."
Pictured: Sarah Groves was 24 when she was killed in Kashmir on 6 April 2013.
"The most ridiculous of all," said Mrs Groves, "was when we went into the court room and the Judge is sitting there at a long table. Richard de Wit is at one end, and a petty criminal is at the other end, and he was conducting two trials simultaneously. I mean it just made me see red, because we could do nothing."
"There was no security, added Mr Groves, "anyone could walk in and out of the court and do anything."
No one from the Groves family has been to Kashmir since 2015. The couple said it was not worth travelling so far when the hearings were so routinely cancelled or postponed. The risk to their safety was also a factor in their decision to follow the case from home.
"It's never going to come to a conclusion" admitted Mr Groves, who is waiting for any news from Srinagar about whether the trial of the man accused of the murder of his daughter will ever resume.
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