IT’S SIX months since Michaela Harte’s murder in Mauritius, and the wheels of the legal system on the Indian Ocean island have been turning quickly.
The daughter of the Tyrone football manager, Mickey Harte, was found dead in the bathroom of her honeymoon suite at Legends Hotel, in Grand Gaube, by her husband, John McAreavey. Since then, the police believe they have gathered enough evidence to charge two members of the four-star hotel’s staff with Harte’s murder.
A third man, a 26-year-old hotel security guard named Dassen Narayanen, has been charged with conspiracy to commit theft.
Two other Legends employees were also initially charged in connection with the murder on January 10th. Seenarain Mungoo, 39-year-old security guard, has since been cleared of any wrongdoing. A charge of conspiracy to commit murder against Raj Theekoy, a 33-year-old room cleaner at the hotel, was also dropped after he agreed to become the state’s main witness against the two main accused. He also made a statement to police.
The prevailing view among locals following the case is that the accused, 30-year-old Avinash Treebhoowoon, a former cleaner at Legends, and 41-year-old Sandip Mooneea, a floor supervisor at the hotel, will stand trial sooner rather than later if the preliminary inquiry currently under way rules that there is sufficient evidence against them.
The inquiry will decide if the police have gathered enough evidence against the two accused men to send them to trial.
TOURISM IS ONEof the pillars of the tropical island's economy, and there is a strong belief among the Mauritians The Irish Timestalked to that the authorities are under political pressure to secure convictions and bring closure to a tragic episode they feel has tainted the country's image abroad.
In the months since the murder charges were brought, officers from the major-crime investigation team have continued to express confidence in the decisions they have made. This belief, it seems, is primarily based on Theekoy’s decision to become a state witness.
However, as the preliminary inquiry at Mapou district court has unfolded over the past few weeks, much of the wider evidence it was thought would strengthen the case against the two accused men has failed to stand up.
A forensic report, which The Irish Timeshas a copy of, was put together by UK Cellmark Forensic Services and is based on DNA evidence gathered at the crime scene. It does nothing to support the charges against the two accused, as it fails to place both men at the scene of the crime.
In addition, a claim made by the leading investigator, Chief Insp Luciano Gerard, at a bail hearing, on April 17th, that CCTV footage existed of Theekoy confronting the two accused outside room 1025 is also incorrect.
One of Treebhoowoon’s legal counsel, Ravi Rutnah, has been forced to withdraw from the case, because he has become a witness in relation to his client’s allegation that he was coerced by police into giving a confession.
Rutnah says the state’s case is crumbling. “When I went to represent my client at the start of the year the police told me that CCTV footage showed him and Raj Theekoy outside room 1025, that they had fingerprint evidence, that there were several eyewitnesses, and they gave me the impression there was damning DNA evidence against him.
“None of this has proved to be true,” he says.
The lack of DNA evidence and CCTV footage raises important questions in relation to how the police investigation has been carried out to date. The forensic report was received by the director of public prosecution on March 15th, but since then it appears the investigation has not been broadened to examine alternative scenarios the evidence might support. The defence also claims the report was withheld from them until the beginning of the inquiry.
For a number of days Treebhoowoon’s defence has tried to introduce the contents of the report through the cross-examination of Chief Insp Gerard, the investigator who took his confession.
Gerard told the inquiry last week that even though the DPP has had the report results for nearly four months, “I have not seen the report and I am not aware of its contents.” On these grounds, the magistrate, Sheila Bonomally, ruled on Wednesday that Gerard could not be questioned on its contents.
There is also the fact that Narayanen, who police say admitted handling an electronic key card connected to the crime, and who forensic scientists could not rule out being in the bathroom of the honeymoon suite where Harte was found, is not on the list of state witnesses in the inquiry.
It is also puzzling that John McAreavey, one of the first people on the scene, has not been called to give evidence.
The inquiry, which needs only to conclude that there is a minimum amount of evidence before it can send the accused for trial, may also be influenced by the introduction of circumstantial evidence by police on Wednesday.
Deputy Sgt Mohammed Rashed Bhugaloo told the court he heard the following exchange shortly after Treebhoowoon signed his confession on January 13th: “I heard accused number one [Treebhoowoon] say to his father [who had been granted a five-minute visit with his son in police custody], ‘Forget your son now. I’ve done something wrong.’ ”
The following day, the defence challenged Bhagaloos recollection of the event, saying he had misheard the exchange. In fact, Treebhoowoon had said: “Do not forget your son. I have made a mistake. I have left home. I ask you to forgive me. I want to come back home.”
At this stage of the legal process, which will have a direct bearing on both the accused and the victim’s right to justice, the outcome is likely to hinge on the new circumstantial evidence and Theekoy’s statement. Both men face prison sentences of up to 60 years each if convicted in a trial.
The lack of DNA evidence and CCTV footage raises questions about how the investigation has been carried out to date
The main players
Raj Theekoy, state witness
Room attendant Raj Theekoy was working on the same block as the two main accused when he is said to have heard Harte screaming shortly before her death.
He was charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the days after her death. However, in March, the 33-year-old walked free from Mapou district court, after the charges against him were dropped. He had agreed to become the state’s main witness in the case.
It is understood Theekoy’s statement says he saw both men accused of murder leaving room 1025 at the time of the killing and was asked by one of them to keep quiet about the encounter. Theekoy is listed to give evidence in the preliminary inquiry, but because of the slow pace of proceedings to date he has not yet taken the stand as a state witness.
Avinash Treebhoowoon, accused of murder
On the day of the murder, Avinash Treebhoowoon, a cleaner at Legends Hotel, was tasked with cleaning the suite in which Michaela Harte’s body was found.
Police say Treebhoowoon freely confessed his part in the killing under interrogation.
Treebhoowoon, who is from Plaine des Roches, has since denied this. He claims he was coerced into making his confession by police who he says tortured him at the headquarters of the major-crime investigation team in Port Louis on January 11th.
Following the first day of the preliminary inquiry on June 20th, his legal team lodged a judicial review at the Mauritian supreme court to have the magistrate of the preliminary inquiry, Sheila Bonomally, removed from the hearing at Mapou district court.
Treebhoowoon says her refusal to call John McAreavey as a witness and order the release of documents to the defence shows he cannot get a fair or impartial hearing from her.
The supreme court has ruled the inquiry can continue while it deliberates over Treebhoowoon’s application.
Sandip Mooneea, accused of murder
Of the four men implicated in Harte’s murder, Sandip Mooneea has been the least vocal in the months since the tragedy.
The floor supervisor, from Petit Raffray, near Grand Gaube, was arrested the day after Harte was murdered, and since then he has steadfastly denied any involvement in the crime.
Mooneea, who was recently married, was implicated in the murder in the alleged confession made by Treebhoowoon to the police.
The statement says Mooneea is the one who physically strangled Harte while Treebhoowoon held her down by the legs. Both men then allegedly carried the Irishwoman to the bathtub in room 1025, placed her in it and filled it with water.
As a floor supervisor, Mooneea had a key that could be used to gain access to room 1025. He is the only one of the three accused who has not made complaints against the police in relation to being tortured.
Dassen Narayanen, accused of conspiracy to commit theft
A hotel security guard from Terre Rouge, Dassen Narayanen was the fourth suspect charged in relation to the murder. He was arrested more than a week after the others, because police were initially unable to locate him.
Narayanen was first charged with conspiracy to commit murder, but after making a confession this was reduced to conspiracy to commit theft. He has since accused the police of coercing him into making the confession through the use of torture.
An independently prepared forensic report, based on evidence from the crime scene, said Narayanen’s DNA could not be discounted as being among the material found on the door handle of a wardrobe in the bathroom of room 1025.
He admitted being in the room on the day of the murder but said he entered after hearing cries for help from McAreavey. He says he may have brushed up against the door handle in the bathroom, upon which his DNA may have been found, when fetching a towel for Harte.
The “major portion” of the DNA found on a dummy room key believed to be connected to the crime also matched that of the security guard, according to the report.