THE DOCTOR who was first called to the hotel room of Irishwoman Michaela Harte after she had been murdered on her honeymoon in Mauritius discovered a “scratch mark” on the right hand side of her neck, a court on the island heard yesterday.
Dr Ramachandra Sunassee said Ms Harte was “unconscious and she was not breathing” when he found her in the room where she had been staying with her husband John McAreavey.
Dr Sunassee, appearing before a preliminary inquiry into the death of Ms Harte on January 10th last, said he had received an emergency request from the Legends Hotel at 3.30pm that day regarding a “female client of Irish nationality who appeared not to be well”.
Dr Sunassee told magistrate Sheila Bonomally at Mapou district court: “I reached the hotel at 4pm and was directed to room 1025. I saw a lady on the floor near the bathroom. She was not moving. Closer examination revealed she was not breathing. She also had no heartbeat.”
He explained Ms Harte’s “pupils were fully dilated and fixed”. He said he also discovered the “scratch mark”, adding: “I thought something was wrong and I told an employee of the hotel that the lady was dead and police should be called.”
During cross-examination by Sanjeev Teeluckdharry, defence counsel representing murder suspect Avinash Treebhoowon, Dr Sunassee confirmed when he arrived at room 1025 the hotel manager and another staff member of the hotel was there.
“The door of the room was closed when I arrived there and we entered together,” the witness said referring to the hotel manager and the other staff.
Mr Teeluckdharry wanted Dr Sunassee to identify the other people with him at the time. But the magistrate halted the line of questioning and criticised the defence council for his tactics. She told the defence counsel that Dr Sunassee was called as an expert to only testify for the victim’s death. “Defence counsel is using that expert as a fishing expedition to obtain information above his expertise,” said the magistrate.
She added that the purpose of a preliminary inquiry is to act as “a judicial filter” and its findings were not conclusive as it was only an inquiry and not a trial.
“The findings of a preliminary enquiry are not binding on the director of public prosecutions,” the magistrate concluded.
Navin Bhoyrul, legal counsel of the second murder accused Sandip Mooneea, did not cross examine Dr Sunassee yesterday.
At the start of the hearing, Ravi Rutnah, one of the two defence counsels of Mr Treebhoowon, withdrew himself from the case for “professional reasons”.
Last week, prosecuting counsel Mehdi Choony, under the instructions of the DPP, advised Mr Rutnah to step down from the defence team following serious allegations of police brutality made by Mr Treebhoowon and his counsel.
Initially, Mr Rutnah refused to leave the defence team but he reconsidered his position and withdrew himself yesterday in the light of a probable separate investigation being launched into the serious allegations made against police.
The case continues today.