DASSEN NARAYNEN:HIS NAME grew familiar, but the man himself never appeared. Over the eight weeks of the trial, jurors heard frequent references to Dassen Naraynen, a former security guard at Legends Hotel.
Time and again he came up in witnesses’ accounts – but because neither the prosecution nor the defence called him as a witness, his own voice was never heard.
The jury was told that while no DNA traces of the two accused men were found in the McAreaveys’ room, a potential match to Mr Naraynen was found on a wardrobe door in the bathroom.
Mr Naraynen’s DNA was also found on a “dummy” magnetic keycard used to replace a stolen master-keycard in the security control room at the hotel, the trial heard. That master-keycard – which has never been found – was the one used to enter the McAreaveys’ room at 2.42pm on January 10th last year, two minutes before Michaela McAreavey used her card to open the door.
The hotel’s head of security, Mohammad Mehtaz Imrit, told the court Mr Naraynen was spotted on CCTV footage walking on a wall close to room 1025 on the day of the killing and was not supposed to be there. Mr Imrit said Mr Naraynen had been posted elsewhere that morning but had asked to change his position to one closer to the deluxe block where the McAreaveys were staying.
Mr Naraynen was originally charged with conspiracy to murder, but this was dropped and he now faces a charge of conspiracy to commit larceny in relation to the same incident. He denies any involvement.
During the trial, both defence lawyers claimed Mr Naraynen’s potential involvement had not been fully investigated by the police. When this was put to assistance police commissioner Yoosoof Soopun, he said the security guard had been “completely excluded” as being one of the murderers, but that police believed he conspired with Mr Moneea to steal.
Last Sunday, I met Mr Naraynen in his lawyer’s office in Port Louis. Tall and well-built, he no longer works at Legends.What income he has comes from odd jobs on building sites.
In the interview, the former security guard denied any involvement in Michaela McAreavey’s killing. He said he was patrolling near the deluxe block on January 10th when he heard John McAreavey shouting. He went to room 1025 and walked inside to see what was happening.
“I saw that maybe the lady was sick, so I gave John McAreavey a wet towel,” he said, adding that that would have accounted for his DNA on the wardrobe handle. “John was trying to get some help from me . . . I don’t really understand English, but I gathered that he needed help. So I took the phone and I called the reception, and I told them there was someone sick in room 1025.”
In his evidence, John McAreavey recalled seeing a tall security man at some stage.
Mr Naraynen claimed police beat him and held a revolver to his head before making him sign a statement saying he gave the stolen master-keycard to Mr Moneea early on January 10th. A second statement, which he also said was fabricated, implicated another member of staff, Seenarain Mungroo.
The presence of his DNA on the “dummy” card was due to the fact that he had handed out the cards to staff in the control room that morning. “That’s why I touched all the keys,” he said.
There was nothing strange about his having walked on the wall behind the deluxe block, he said. In his four years at Legends he had always walked there.
Was he satisfied with how he had dealt with the events of January 10th at the deluxe block? “As a security guard, yes . . . If I knew the woman was dead at the time, I wouldn’t have entered the room. I would have waited outside.”
