Bride murdered on honeymoon 12 years ago - but killer remains mystery
A young Irish teacher was slain during her honeymoon on the Indian Ocean nation of Mauritius over a decade ago, but the murder has still not been solved.
Michaela Harte-McAreavey, 27, was killed two days after arriving with her Gaelic footballer husband John McAreavey on December 30 2011. Authorities said a hotel key had been used to enter her room, then she was dragged into a bathtub and strangled before the water was turned on. But over a decade later, there are still no leads in the case and Michaela's family are still searching for answers over exactly who killed the daughter of the high-profile football manager Mickey Harte.
John and Michaela McAreavey on their wedding day at St. Malachy's Church (PA)Two of the hotel’s staff, Sandip Moneea and Avinash Treebhoowoon, were acquitted of her murder in July 2012 and there have been claims local police botched the investigation. The then-Prime Minister of Mauritius, Dr Navin Ramgoolam, denied putting undue pressure on the police to try to secure a conviction to protect the island's tourism industry. He told a BBC documentary: "I can't give instructions to the commissioner of police, but I can give him some indications that this is an important case, he must make sure that we get the guilty person. That's okay. What's wrong with that?"
One of the two men who went on trial for the murder in 2012, Avinash Treebhoowoon, made a confession while in custody but later insisted it was a result of being beaten by police. The first person arrested by police following the discovery of Michaela's body was her husband. He was put in a cell, strip-searched, handcuffed and left alone for five hours. As he wept, an officer asked him: "What are you crying about? You're young - you'll get another wife."
On the day of the murder, John was using the resort's golf course, while Michaela went for a swim in the pool. The couple later met at the hotel's restaurant for lunch before Michaela went upstairs to their room to fetch biscuits to go with her cup of tea. After she did not return for 45 minutes, John went to look for her and when the door opened, he was met with his worst nightmare. "Michaela was cold. Her lips were blue and I kept on saying 'Michaela, Michaela, wake up, come on.' Then I could see this mark on her neck", John told trial as explained lifting her lifeless body out of the bath.
The court also heard how detectives allowed other hotel guests and staff to trample over the crime scene hours after the murder and how their own officers did not wear anti-contamination suits as they worked in the room. A German couple claimed to have seen a man loitering outside the room, but they were never interviewed as witnesses. Four fingerprints that were found at the scene were never identified, and a hotel guest who left by taxi the night Mrs McAreavey died was never traced.
Prosecutor Medhi Manrakhan said in an emotional closing statement: "The person who has suffered the most on all of this, as if he hasn't suffered enough after the death of the love of his life, Michaela, is John McAreavey. I am duty-bound to speak about the manner in which fingers have been constantly pointed at John McAreavey in the most unbefitting manner."
Nineteen days after she was married in St Malachy's chapel, outside Ballygawley in County Tyrone, Michaela's slain body was heartbreakingly taken back there for her funeral. People were seen more miles as they lined the route her funeral cortege took. Her uncle, the Catholic Bishop of Dromore, John McAreavey, said at the service: "Even those of us who are older and who have had some experience of tragedy have been shaken to the core by what has happened. We are still in a state of shock." She was buried in her wedding dress.
Family members went to Mauritius in April 2017 and offered a reward of 2m Mauritian rupees (£44,000) for information. Her brother, Mark Harte, told the documentary: "To my last day, this campaign will be pursued in search of justice for Michaela in whatever form that comes."
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
