THE STATE’S leading witness in the Michaela Harte murder inquiry heard a woman “shouting in pain” in room 1025 at the Legends hotel minutes before the Irishwoman’s body was discovered there, a Mauritian court heard yesterday.
Raj Theekoy, a room cleaner at the hotel when the murder occurred on January 10th last, told Mapou district court he heard the daughter of Tyrone football manager Mickey Harte shouting on three distinct occasions during the brief spell he was near room 1025.
“I heard a voice of a woman. The voice was coming from room 1025. She was shouting: ‘Ahhh!’ I heard the woman shouting like that three times,” Mr Theekoy said. “When I heard the woman shouting like that, I got scared because it was the first time I heard somebody shouting. I panicked.”
He also admitted he saw both murder co-accused, Sandip Mooneea (41) and Avinash Treebhoowoon (30), near Ms Harte’s suite minutes after he heard shouting from the same room.
Ms Harte was on honeymoon with her husband John McAreavey on the Indian Ocean island when she was found murdered in her room at the resort.
Prosecuting counsel Mehdi Choony told the court Mr Theekoy had total immunity from prosecution following his decision to become the state’s main witness.
Mr Theekoy said after hearing the shouts, which occurred about 2.45pm, he thought a couple were “fighting” in room 1025. Mr Theekoy said he went into room 1021, which is close to 1025, to discreetly see who might come out.
At the start of yesterday’s preliminary inquiry, which must decide if there is enough evidence to send the two accused forward for trial, Mr Theekoy said he was assigned to clean rooms in the same hotel block as Mr Treebhoowoon on the day of the murder. He went on to say he met Mr Treebhoowoon in room 1012 an hour before the tragedy occurred, and he told him room 1025 was occupied and “he could not start cleaning the room”.
“I went to meet Avinash Treebhoowoon after I had finished cleaning room 1012 and 1011. I knew that Avinash was in room 1025. It was around 2.45pm,” Mr Theekoy said.
When Mr Theekoy left room 1025, he witnessed another scene which police believe is very important to their investigation.
“After five to six minutes, I saw some people. I did not see them coming from a room. I saw two persons who were approximately two feet away from room 1025,” Mr Theekoy told magistrate Sheila Bonomally after which he confirmed both men were Mr Mooneea and Mr Treebhoowoon.”
He asked Mr Treebhoowoon what had happened in room 1025.
“He told me that nothing happened there. He also told me that the wheel of his trolley was deflated and he is going to the boathouse to fix it. But when I looked at the wheels of his trolley, everything was fine,” he said.
Later Mr Theekoy met Mr Mooneea who had threatened: “Be quiet. If you open your mouth, I’ll pull you in [to] this.” The hearing continues on Friday.