Updated 8.35am
THREE MEN ARE appearing in court in Mauritius this morning in connection with the death of Michaela McAreavey, the daughter of Tyrone GAA manager Mickey Harte.
Michaela was on honeymoon in Mauritius, when her husband – the Down footballer John McAreavey – found her dead in the bathroom of their room in the Legends hotel in Grand Graube. A post mortem established that she had been strangled.
A spokeswomen for the police force in Mauritius told TheJournal.ie this morning that all three who have been arrested are employees of the hotel.
Two are provisionally charged with murder, and one with conspiracy to murder. Two of the men were room attendants, and the third is a floor manager.
Last night, the dead woman’s father made an emotional appeal to reporters to leave John McAreavey alone.
Mickey Harte (centre ) with two of his sons, Matthew (left) and Michael, speaking about the death of his daughter Michaela, at the family home outside Ballygawley in Co Tyrone.
Michaela’s husband, whom she had married just twelve days before her death, was almost immediately ruled out as a suspect, as police said they were focusing on attempted robbery as a possible motive for the killing. It emerged that someone had accessed the McAreavey’s bedroom with a hotel-issue magnetic key card two minutes before Michaela returned there to get some biscuits to have with her tea.
However, nothing had been taken from the room the couple were sharing, leading police to speculate that Michaela may have disturbed a potential robber.
At a press conference in Mauritius this morning, police revealed disturbing details of the murder scene. They told journalists that John McAreavey found his wife in the bath, which had been filled with water.
Yesterday, he issued a simple statement through the Mauritian tourism Minister:
I love my wife.
Police stressed that the investigation is continuing, and a number of interviews still have to be carried out by police.
Mauritian minister of tourism Nandcoomar Bodha said:
Our thoughts are with Michaela’s family and friends during this terrible tragedy. It is the first time that a murder has ever taken place in a hotel in Mauritius and the island’s extremely low crime rate means this has come as a terrible shock to the whole nation. MTPA is meeting with Michaela’s family on Wednesday morning to extend its support and the entire island is in mourning.
The chief executive of the Legends hotel group, Paul Jones, said every possible support would be given to the bereaved family.
Meanwhile, some holidaymakers in Mauritius have claimed they were robbed in their hotel rooms.
A man claims all his valuables were taken from another hotel where he was staying on 5 January last year, while he slept. In a comment posted on the ttglive.com website alongside a news story about Michaela’s death, he said:
No hotel staffs were on-site when it happened – the “security guard” was actually napping when I woke him up and told him what had happened. No one could even get hold of the Hotel management till 7.30am some 2 hours later. I was very distressed in how the incident was being dealt with. There was no sense of urgency or understanding to how serious matter was.Has the Indian Ocean paradise just turned into hell?
A thought always lingers “This could have turned out quite differently if I’d woken up during the break-in”.
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