Naresh Bhatt found guilty: Family and friends of Mamta Kafle Bhatt react

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Let's listen in, and here's the family outside the court. [00:00:03] Davian Kharki: Hello, my name is Davian Kharki. I'm a 12-year-old boy, and I'm from Gainesville. Today is a day that we should proudly celebrate, as it is also a Nepali festival called Tihar, which is very similar to Diwali, and can celebrate the end of evil and the victory of righteousness. I think we should all celebrate this day every year as a remembrance in the name of Manta Gafle. Mic drop. [00:00:49] Speaker 1: Thank you all. I don't think we've seen a moment like that after a trial. Normally, you know, there was grief, but what that young man said right there, just about bringing light and honoring those who have fallen, that's powerful stuff. Here's another family member. [00:01:11] Speaker 3: He lied to us from the first day. When we first, when I heard about Manta was missing, I called him in the evening, told that with friends, families, everyone, we are there. Let's go find her. From the day first, he lied to us. He played with our emotions. He thought he was just by himself, left his wife, left. He's with daughter. He cannot take care of the daughter. He needs food. He needs to places to go find Manta. He lied from the day beginning. Finally, not just August 4th, till 21 days, he fooled us, all the veterans community. He told us he was the person who needed help rather than finding Manta. That was all a lie. And finally, justice is made. Thank you so much, Commander of Virginia. There is one thing. It proved that there is no place for crime. Does not matter. Whatever crime you do, you get punished. No veterans, no police, no one, no police. Doesn't matter. You have money. You have power. You have justice. Doesn't matter. You fake it or you lie. There is a people who is always smarter than you. There is always better than you. There is always a powerful than you. Thank you so much, Commonwealth of Virginia, for keeping veterans and all his lies, you know, together and providing the justice to Manta and Manta family and especially Dr. Hawley, who is not even in the part of this community, see how this community to get together at the beginning. Thank you so much. And I want to tell Dr. Hawley, he's here. We had arguments at the first. And we got to know each other right away because we both had the same mind, finding Manta, who is Manta. And we both aligned together, passing information to each other that some were outside, some were told to public, some were not. But not being to Nepalese community, see, gather everyone together. I'm so from Nepalese community, one of the members of Nepalese community, I would tell you that. Thank you, Dr. Hawley. You did this without any of your selfishness. [00:03:32] Speaker ?: Thank you so much. [00:03:33] Speaker 3: You are another Nepalese and we want to welcome you. Thank you so much, Dr. Hawley. It means a lot. We had a disagreement, but she put me in the right place. She told me, I says, you need to think in a different way. Then we started talking, then the information was shared. Thank you so much again from my bottom of the heart. And Dr. Hawley is going to be the honorary citizen of Nepal. Thank you so much. My sisters, we stand here today. [00:04:26] Speaker 4: We stand here today with tear-stained eyes because we got the verdict that we've been fighting for. Guilty, guilty, guilty. Guilty on all accounts. I cannot thank enough my sisters, my Nepali friends, the Commonwealth attorneys, the Manassas Park police, the little police department that could, Prince William County, all the other agencies that helped. But mostly, I have to thank my sisters that we shouted. We shouted that we knew something was wrong with Mamta. And when the police didn't listen, we shouted more. We showed up at the steps of the police station and we demanded answers. And you know what? Today we got them. The truth has come out. He killed her. He defiled her. He threw her away like trash. But let me tell you what I know. She's not trash. She wasn't trash then. She's not trash today. And we are going to do everything we can, Mamta, to make sure that your daughter knows how much you are loved. And we are going to give her the best life ever. And I can say, finally today, Naresh Bhatt, you will never see your daughter again. Just thank you all. Thank you all. Please just remember, if you are a victim of domestic violence, speak up. Say something. Let us save you. I would have saved Mamta. I would have picked her up and put her in my house. No questions asked. The best thing that you could do for Mamta is, if you are a victim, get out. It was too late for Mamta. But it's not too late for you. [00:06:39] Speaker 5: Thank you for believing us. Because the culprit portrayed very, very, very good story. He was still trying till this week. But you believed us. It was difficult to believe. But the trust you have given to us did not go waste. We were like one, two people at the beginning. We came through a lot of challenges, harassment, and everything. But we made it because of the community trust. Everybody came from single home. Everybody from global community. As soon as I came to know that, I called Holly. And we had one and a half hour conversation. Then we contacted the media, a little guy, and I dragged Sachi. I knew that Sachi is the one can dig it deeper, can do, you know, investigation, and, you know, bring this guy to the, you know, open his mouth. And we had like seven women working days and night. And there were so many people supported us and came this far. It was not an easy journey. Not at all. And we have, as a minority community, we had to bring a lot of media attention. At the beginning, nobody would listen to us. We had to contact media. Thank you, Ms. Holly, to give me NBC number. And I contacted NBC, and I would like to shout out Mr. Dave. He is the root of this all investigation. I would say at the beginning, that moment, he is the one keep on inspiring, keep on asking Holly, why is there is no, any missing notice or anything, because this is a person missing. Then, you know, we will keep on doing that. And our wonderful sister, Bina, came, so we three were, I'm not trying to take credit, but, you know, like, that is how this whole community gathered. Everybody believed us because, you know, that was the story. But what it was shown was different, because if the community did not come, if, you know, one person did not speak up, you know, Mamta would have been a missing person, abandoning her child, that is how Mamta would have been. Then he made another story, Mamta had mental illness. Then he made another story, Mamta was postnatal, because we were the witness, we knew that as soon as we saw the post in that health Nepal, we knew that Mamta was killed. Mamta is, you know, not there. And we, we were coming together. So thank you for believing it and, you know, trusting and, you know, like, all the, saving all the daughters. And it was, we already lost Mamta. But this is a big day. I'm, like, happy in the other way, because, because of this birthright, I think anybody would think about abusing daughters, abusing wives, you know, and, uh, they will discourage. Even with all these incidents, there are so many girls, our sisters, our daughters, and our, even mother, they are threatened to be killed like Mamta. Please, please, think about that. Before you guys do that, you have to come across with these ladies and all the same. You have to, you have to break this wall. I'm challenging it. I'm challenging it. You have to break all this shield, because every daughter, every wife, and every human needs to be protected and treat like as a human. So, this is a promise. Every daughter, everybody will protect their daughters in home. And when we are in, especially in Nepali community, when we are giving the culture, giving, lecturing your daughter, you know, you should not wear this, you should do this and that, you know, what if you are divorced, this and that. Please, stop lecturing your daughters. Do to your sons. Teach them, be a good person, be a good human, treat your wife's or other girlfriend as a human. You have to do that. And thank you so much. I'm so emotional today. I, you know, I don't know what I'm talking. Yes, but I'm feeling so relieved. Thank you so much. [00:11:32] Speaker 6: Sunita, if you're willing, you started the morning testifying. about Naresh's abuse, and you ended today hearing the verdict. What was going through your mind when the verdict came in? [00:11:46] Speaker 5: I was so relieved when I was testified at the first time. I heard like 1,000 objections. That was making me very frustrated because we are the voice of Mamta. That is how we started, because Mamta shared that story, what she was going through. She shared with me because, you know, she trusts me. She thinks I'm a person. You know, if something comes up, I would be the person to speak up, because she knew that, and I was advocating, and I was our mentor. And, you know, our relationship was started like a mother and daughter. So that is how she shared with me. But, you know, we, all the evidence was showing that, and even evidence was not coming. We knew that it was, it happened, because this was a very creepy guy. You know, when I was with Mamta, I was observing all the red flags, so we knew that. And my mouth was shut. I couldn't talk about what actually happened, and they were like, you know, painting of the wall, which had already a big hole. So I was feeling unheard. I was feeling very sad. I couldn't sleep all these two weeks, but, you know, I, today, I could at least tell part of, you know, like a small chunk of whatever happened. So I feel relieved, and it is hard. [00:13:16] Speaker 7: Mamta's friends taking the microphone after hearing the jury verdict there and sharing a powerful message against domestic violence and to speak up if you are the victim, which in the end, as you heard there, both the friends saying, we wish we could have done something sooner because there were red flags. [00:13:34] Speaker 1: Dr. Hawley Worth, the woman who spoke prior to that, she was the one who was the face of the search effort they worked together. She worked with Mamta Koffel, and we go from two years ago, August of 2024, to here in November of 2026.