Hotel played ‘dirty game’ during murder inquiry

Management at the hotel where Michaela McAreavey was murdered failed to cooperate properly with police and were more concerned with damage to its reputation than catching the killer, a court has heard.

In a scathing attack on an alleged “dirty game” played by the Legends Hotel, a police chief claimed Ms McAreavey’s husband John was initially arrested as a suspect because information that would have eliminated him from inquires was withheld from detectives.

Giving evidence at the trial of two former Legends employees accused of the crime, assistant commissioner of police Yoosoof Soopun further alleged that management provided material to “the defence” which it should have given to police.

Former room attendant Avinash Treebhoowon, 31, and floor supervisor Sandip Mooneea, 42, deny murdering the 27-year-old teacher in Jan 2011.

The prosecution claim they attacked her when she walked in and caught them stealing. Mr Soopun, who led the murder investigation, repeatedly criticised the hotel from the witness stand in the Supreme Court in Port Louis yesterday.

Mr Soopun, who is in charge of the police’s major crime investigation team (MCIT), denied Mr Treebhoowon’s claim he threatened him with a revolver and told him he would die if he did not confess.

Testifying as a prosecution witness, Mr Soopun claimed one of the first instances of the hotel’s uncooperative stance was when officers were not given records of entries to room 1025 where the newlywed was found.

Mr Soopun said if that data had been available to officers at the outset then John McAreavey would never have been detained.

The bereaved widower was handcuffed and left alone in a police station for hours in the wake of his wife’s death.

Mr Soopun said the reading from the electronic door entry system was handed over only after “persistent requests”.

“I just want to state that hotel management, particularly the chief security officer Mr [Mohammad] Imrit, has played a dirty game with the police,” he said.

“Having that information earlier to the police, there’s no doubt the poor Mr John McAreavey would not have been taken to Piton police station and treated as a suspect by Piton CID.

“It was only on our persistent requests, my lord, that we obtained the reading and came to know that a magnetic card — JMK supervisor two — has been used at 14.42 hours, some two minutes before the lady, the deceased Mrs McAreavey, had accessed the room.

“Then it was clear, my lord, that Mr John McAreavey must be disregarded as a suspect.”

Mr Soopun said that he was “astonished” to find Mr McAreavey handcuffed in the police station later that night.

“He was crying and completely broken,” he added.

He said he immediately gave an order for him to be released.

Mr Treebhoowon originally signed a statement of confession admitting involvement in the murder but has since insisted it was beaten out of him.

Mr Soopun was confronted with claims that he threatened Mr Treebhoowon with a revolver tucked into his sock.

Mr Teeluckdharry said the officer called his client a number of expletives, showed him the gun, and then said: “If you don’t speak, you’ll die today.”

The officer said the allegation was a “complete lie”.

“I never use that kind of language, this would be confirmed by my men and my family.

“In regard to the revolver, we never carry any revolver in MCIT except when we go out.”

Mr Soopun said when he was at the Legends Hotel the day after the murder, he saw Mr Mooneea changing work sheets to suggest Mr Treebhoowon was not due to clean room 1025 around the time of the murder.

“He was trying to shield accused number one in relation to room 1025. This clearly shows there was a link between the two of them,” he said.