Accused a serial liar, insists prosecutor

A hotel worker accused of murdering Michaela McAreavey has been branded a serial liar who has invented stories to support his alibi — even as he insisted he had never met her.

A prosecutor in Mauritius put it to Avinash Treebhoowon that he had concocted parts of testimony, as it contradicted the version of events he provided to police when first arrested.

However, during a marathon day on the witness stand at the Supreme Court in Port Louis, where proceedings were three hours longer than anticipated, the defendant vehemently rejected the allegations.

“I did not lie,” he said during cross-examination.

Earlier, while answering questions posed by his own lawyer, Mr Treebhoowon told the jury he had no choice but to sign an admission because police allegedly threatened to lock up his parents and deport his wife.

He wept as he claimed officers told him they could do what they liked to his loved ones because they had the government “in their hands”.

The accused also alleged that police repeatedly pushed his head under water during interrogation, forcing him to vomit blood.

Mr Treebhoowon, who testified in his native French Creole, and co-accused Sandip Moonea deny murdering the 27-year-old newlywed in the Legends Hotel last January. The prosecution claims they attacked the daughter of Tyrone Gaelic football boss Mickey Harte when she caught them stealing in her room.

Mr Treebhoowon had been in the witness box for four hours on his second day of evidence when the defence concluded their questions. However, despite it having reached a juncture when the court ordinarily rose for the day, Mr Justice Prithviraj Fecknah allowed cross-examination to begin, later saying he was mindful of the state’s concerns that the testimony be “split”.

For hours, chief prosecutor Mehdi Manrakhan pressed the defendant to explain apparent discrepancies in his accounts of his movements the day Mrs McAreavey was murdered.

Mr Treebhoowon had already said a confession statement he signed three days after the Jan 10 crime was fabricated and he was forced to put his name to it.

He claimed that two other statements given to police before that one, in which there were no admissions, were also incorrect.

But after rigorous probing by Mr Manrakhan and Judge Fecknah, the defendant conceded the facts contained in the statements were correct and what he meant to say was that they were “incomplete”, having missed out certain details.

The prosecutor then compared the accounts in those statements to the testimony the witness gave in court.

In evidence, the accused said he had been in the room where Mrs McAreavey was found dead — 1025 — to clean it on the day of the crime, but had left at 2.35pm — 10 minutes before the prosecution contend she was strangled.

In the crucial 45 to 60-minute period that followed 2.35pm, Mr Treebhoowon said he was completing other jobs. These included replacing shampoo in room 1023, delivering cocktail invites to rooms, stopping at an equipment pantry, visiting the boathouse to get a wheel on his trolley pumped, and chatting with co-workers, including Mr Moonea, near room 1012.

Mr Manrakhan said there was no mention of replacing shampoo in 1023 in the statement he made to police on Jan 11 — the day after the murder.

“You lied in your statement?” he asked.

“You told a big lie?”

The accused replied firmly: “No.”

The prosecutor told Mr Treebhoowon he said he spent three minutes in the pantry while testifying, yet in the statement of Jan 11, 2011 he put that timeframe at 10 minutes.

“I tell you you told a lot of lies today,” he said. “Did you tell lies in your statement or not?”

The defendant said he been subjected to police brutality at that point.

“When my statement was taken I was disturbed [in the head],” he said.

The defendant had told the court he had been talking with Mr Moonea and two co-workers outside room 1012 for half an hour.

Mr Manrakhan said he claimed he had been with them for 15 minutes in the version he gave to police.

“Did you say 30 minutes because you wanted to invent a story?”

“No,” said the witness.

“You had to invent a story,” the barrister pressed.

Again the accused responded “no”.

“Which is it, 15 minutes or 30 minutes?”

“Thirty minutes.”

“That means you lied about 15 minutes.”

“I was disturbed,” said Mr Treebhoowon.

Mr Manrakhan went on to highlight a series of other apparent inconsistencies.

He questioned the claimed length of time — five minutes — it took the defendant to walk to the boathouse, why he never mentioned the name of the boathouse manager to police, and why he failed to tell officers of an encounter during the crucial period when he said he saw Mr Moonea talking on the phone, even though he was able to recount it in court.

“On the 11th [Jan 2011] details are fresh in your head,” said the prosecutor.

“But it’s another one-and-a-half years later that you remember these things that happened? You invented the story that Sandip was on the phone —it’s a story.”

“No, that’s not true,” said Mr Treebhoowon.

The accused has told the court he went to clean the McAreaveys’ room despite a do not disturb sign on the door. He said he did this on Mr Moonea’s instructions.

Mr Manrakhan said such an action was against hotel policy.

“It’s not against procedures,” said the witness.

“Why are you covering for him [Mr Moonea]?” responded the lawyer.

“No, I’m not.” he said.

Earlier, speaking to his own lawyer, Mr Treebhoowon claimed police threatened to send his wife Reshma to Ireland to live with Mrs McAreavey’s husband John, alleging that an officer told him “that man’s wife is dead, he needs a woman to live with”.

He said police also said they would lock up and torture his parents.

Mr Treebhoowon signed a police diary book on Jan 12 admitting involvement. The following day he signed a full confession statement. He claims both were extracted by police brutality.

Earlier, Mr Treebhoowon recounted to his lawyer Sanjeev Teeluckdharry an alleged incident at police offices when he was stripped and tortured.

“Mr Manoovaloo [police constable Jean Robert] held my neck from behind and other officers blocked my hands and legs,” he alleged.

“Manoovaloo held my head in the bucket of water around six or seven times.

“My head was in the bucket, I was struggling. I couldn’t breathe, I was choking.

“Manoovaloo pulled out my head and gave me a punch on my back and I was vomiting blood.”

He said police told him not to tell his lawyer about the abuse.

And the following day he said they again warned him ahead of returning to the police station to sign his full confession.

He said officers threatened to throw him under the wheels of a bus.

Finally, Mr Teeluckdharry read the official charge — that he murdered Mrs McAreavey with premeditation.

“It’s not true,” said Mr Treebhoowon.

“It’s lies, I never saw that woman, never talked to her, I didn’t know her.”