SUSPECTS ‘CONFESS’
RTÉ last night reported that police sources confirmed two of the men charged had admitted their involvement in the murder.
Numerous other media outlets quoted Mayessen Nagapachetty, a journalist with Mauritian agency News Now, who said Avinash Treebhoowoon, 28, a room attendant at the Legends Hotel where the newlyweds were staying, had admitted to strangling Ms Harte.
“He went into the room to rob, and then sometime later he fell face to face with the woman, which is Michaela Harte... They had a fight together... and then in the struggle he pushed the woman there, and carried the woman into the bathtub, and strangled her to death,” he said.
However, in an appearance in court yesterday, Treebhoowoon insisted he had been mistreated by police during questioning.
And a Mauritian barrister, quoted on RTÉ radio, said it was “quite common” for a defendant to retract confessions at a later date, claiming they had been coerced into making them.
The three men who appeared in court charged in connection with the murder — Treebhoowoon, supervisor Sandip Moneea, 41, who also faces a murder charge, and room attendant Raj Theekoy, 33, who faces a charge of conspiracy to murder — had denied the charges against them.
Earlier in the day, police chief in Mauritius Dhun Rampersad revealed authorities only had “circumstantial evidence” linking the three local men with Ms Harte’s murder.
Police commissioner Rampersad said the three had been identified as murder suspects on the basis that they had access to Ms Harte’s room. But he added that someone else could have had the electronic card to open the room and said police were keeping a “very open mind” that another person could have murdered the 27-year-old newlywed.
“They are the guys who have access to the place, I mean on the floor — in fact it is a ground floor — so these are the people who had direct access, and in terms of the timing, when the particular room was opened. So there can’t be any other person than the one who holds the key, the electronic card, there can’t be other people or maybe somebody who might have possession, anyone who is in possession of that card.”
He added: “We have a very open mind. There may be some other guy who done the job, we have a very open mind.”
It is understood skin tissue found under Ms Harte’s fingernails could prove crucial to the police case against the men. DNA tests on forensic evidence recovered from her body are due to be completed by the end of the week.
Meanwhile, Ms Harte’s body was released last night and is with undertakers in Mauritius awaiting repatriation to Ireland.
Her husband John McAreavey also spoke yesterday of his devastation at the loss of his wife so early into their married lives together.
“Words have no meaning. My beautiful wife, my best friend, my rock Michaela, has been taken from me and I still can’t take it in. Our hopes, our dreams and our future together are gone. I am heartbroken and like Mickey, Marian, Michaela’s brothers and my family, I am totally devastated. I am numbed. I love my wife, very, very much and my world revolved around her. I can’t describe in words how lost I feel as Michaela is not just the light of my life — she is my life,” he said.
Meanwhile, the GAA confirmed it is to hold a one minute’s silence at all GAA games at the weekend.
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