THE TRIAL of two hotel workers accused of murdering Michaela McAreavey took a dramatic turn yesterday when one of the men’s lawyers withdrew from the case and signalled he wanted to appear as a witness.
Ravi Rutnah, acting for defendant Avinash Treebhoowoon, told the Criminal Court of Mauritius he was stepping down after claiming a police detective had attacked his professional integrity while giving evidence.
The defence then submitted a list of additional witnesses it wished to call, which included Mr Rutnah. Given that witnesses at the trial are not allowed to attend proceedings before they give evidence, this presents the court with a problem. Judge Prithviraj Fecknah adjourned the trial pending legal submissions this morning.
The lawyer’s departure came after Chief Insp Luciano Gerard outlined to the court how Mr Treebhoowoon had, along with fellow employee Sandip Moneea, confessed to murdering Ms McAreavey, daughter of Tyrone football manager Mickey Harte, at Legends hotel in January last year.
In the statement, the accused asked for forgiveness and said they had only intended to steal from the 27-year-old teacher’s room, but killed her when she came back unexpectedly and caught Mr Treebhoowoon going through a wallet.
“If the woman had not come in, we would have stolen the money,” he told police. “We had no reason to kill her. It was because she saw us that we had to kill her. I regret what happened and ask for forgiveness.”
As well as reading the defendant’s statement of admission, Chief Insp Gerard made a series of claims about Mr Rutnah. He said he was late arriving for a meeting with his client, after he had signalled his desire to make a confession statement, and also shared food in a convivial atmosphere with investigating police officers.
Mr Rutnah said this amounted to an “accusatory attack” on his reputation. “As a direct consequence of that, I have decided to withdraw from representing accused number one, Avinash Treebhoowoon,” he said.
The lawyer added: “I wish to withdraw but I will be back – in Arnold Schwarzenegger style.”
Mr Treebhoowoon, a room attendant at Legends, has since claimed the admission he made to police, in the presence of Mr Rutnah, was beaten out of him. He and Mr Moneea deny murdering Ms McAreavey.
In the statement read out by Chief Insp Gerard, Mr Treebhoowoon said Ms McAreavey returned to the room and shouted when she saw him with a wallet. He pushed her to the floor. “She was screaming and I told Sandip, ‘Let’s stop her from screaming’.”
He said Mr Moneea “pressed on her neck to stop her from screaming” for “a minute or so”. She struggled and he continued to press until she lost consciousness. “She was breathing, but she couldn’t talk.” The defendant then told police his co-accused said they had to kill her so she could not identify them.
He told officers they then carried her into the bathroom, put her in the bath, turned on the water and attempted to wash fingerprints off her. They left the room and hid, returning soon afterwards to see Ms McAreavey’s husband, John, screaming and trying to wake his wife.
Principal state counsel Mehdi Manrakhan pressed Chief Insp Gerard on a complaint by Mr Treebhoowoon of police brutality.
The officer replied it was “totally false and unfounded”. He said three suspects had been arrested after the killing, yet only Mr Treebhoowoon had made any complaint. “There has never been any violence used toward any of the accused,” he said.
Chief Insp Gerard said Mr Treebhoowoon’s wife Reshma had visited him before he made his full confession and signed a statement indicating he was in good health.
