A FIERCE row broke out yesterday at the trial of two men charged with murdering Michaela McAreavey after a lawyer for one of the accused attempted to explore the private lives of Ms McAreavey and her husband John.
State counsel Mehdi Manrakhan reacted furiously when Sanjeev Teeluckdharry, representing hotel worker Avinash Treebhoowoon, questioned a police officer over his inspection of personal belongings handed back to Mr McAreavey after his wife’s death.
Ms McAreavey was killed while on honeymoon in Mauritius in January last year.
The prosecution claims she was attacked and murdered by two hotel employees, Mr Treebhoowoon (30) and Sandeep Moneea (42), after she found them stealing from her room. The two men deny the charges.
On the fourth day of the trial, Mr Teeluckdharry, the lead defence lawyer, questioned a policeman about items belonging to the Irish couple, including a laptop, two iPhones, a sex-guide book and other items of a personal nature.
In cross-examination, Mr Teeluckdharry asked whether an effort had been made by police to examine the contents of the phones and the websites viewed through the laptop.
This sparked a fraught exchange with Mr Manrakhan, whose objection was upheld by Judge Prithviraj Fecknah.
In response to questioning from Mr Teeluckdharry, the officer said he had not looked through the book. Mr Teeluckdharry then pressed him twice about what may have been in the book, drawing a furious response from the prosecution.
“I object in the strongest possible terms,” Mr Manrakhan said.
The judge upheld the objections of the prosecution, telling Mr Teeluckdharry that such questions should not be directed at the witness – Sgt Govinder Ramasawmy – as he had already told the court he had not examined the book’s contents.
Sgt Ramasawmy accompanied Mr McAreavey to room 1025 in the hotel the day before he handed him the possessions, so that the bereaved husband could show police how he found his wife in the bath.
After cross-examination by Mr Teeluckdharry, Rama Valayden, a lawyer for Mr Moneea, pressed the officer on his actions in the days after the murder.
He accused Sgt Ramasawmy of not interviewing a number of employees and guests at Legends Hotel who could have assisted the investigation, including a German couple who, the barrister claimed, were not asked to make statements because they could not speak English.
“Officer, you did not do anything in that inquiry. In fact you participated in bungling that inquiry,” Mr Valayden said.
Sgt Ramasawmy rejected the allegation: “No, my lord,” he said.
Ms McAreavey (27), the daughter of Tyrone football manager Mickey Harte, had left her new husband beside the pool at the hotel to get biscuits to go with a cup of tea, according to the prosecution.
Her body was discovered a short time later in the bath.
The court has heard that an eyewitness, Raj Theekoy, says he saw both accused men leave the room where Ms McAreavey was strangled three days into the couple’s stay at the hotel in Grand Gaube.
Mr Theekoy claims he heard a woman cry out in pain from the McAreaveys’ room and then saw the two accused exit.
He alleges that Mr Moneea threatened to implicate him in the case if he spoke out.
The two accused face up to 60 years each in prison if found guilty.
