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THE PRIME MINISTER of Mauritius says he has invited officers from An Garda Síochána and the Police Service of Northern Ireland to assist local detectives investigating the death of Michaela McAreavey.
Dr Navin Ramgoolam said today he would this evening write to members of both forces, inviting them to travel to the island to assist local law enforcement agencies in seeking to trace McAreavey’s killers.
“I will be very, very happy to have them come to assist us,” Ramgoolam said in an interview with BBC Radio Ulster’s ‘Evening Extra’ programme.
“In fact I’m going to write to both of them to suggest that we are prepared to welcome detectives from Ireland.”
Ramgoolam insisted that local police had “to look for whatever did this”, and said ”the sooner they [Irish police] came the better… the more you allow time to pass, the harder it is.”
“We are determined not to leave any stone unturned,” he said, saying he had spoken to his national parliament about the matter this morning and reporting that the “whole house was unanimous in sharing the grief of the family.”
Ramgoolam added that the publication of photographs showing McAreavey’s body in the immediate aftermath of her death was “outrageous” and revealed that police had made a second visit to the premises of the Sunday Times, the paper which published them, this morning.
The journalist responsible for the photographs had been interviewed by police, who had also collected material from the newspaper’s offices, he said.
“We think they might have committed an offence,” the premier said. “The DPP is pursuing the matter.”
Today the editor of the Sunday Times, Imran Hosany, offered an apology to the McAreavey and Harte families over the publication of the pictures, saying he had done so in order to draw attention to the fact that the crime had remained unpunished.
The families rejected the apology, however, saying the newspaper had “made a calculated decision to use photographs and images that no responsible media outlet would have touched”.
A spokesperson for the families said the most obvious way for the newspaper to co-operate with police investigating Michaela’s death was to inform them how it had obtained the photographs it published.
Michaela, the daughter of Tyrone football boss Mickey Harte and a former entrant in the Rose of Tralee, was found dead in her hotel room at the Legends Hotel while on honeymoon with her husband John, who she had married just a fortnight previously.
Post-mortems indicated the newlywed schoolteacher had been strangled. Two men accused of murdering her were acquitted last week following an eight-week trial which gripped the island.
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Didn’t the Indo offer a similar excuse when they plastered pictures of Jerry McCabe’s body all over their rag? Showing the harsh reality they said.
Now, I am not for one minute suggesting that the Mauritian paper be allowed to get away with publishing pictures, but is anyone else sick to the teeth of the media’s handwringing and faux-outrage on the matter? Her family and lawyers are dealing with it.. so stop milking the bloody thing. It’s embarrassing at this stage.. and I doubt the continuous spiel is helping those who are grieving.
I’m no fan of the Indo but they asked for his widows permission. That makes it completely different.
Gerry Mccabes widow gave her consent to the pictures of her murdered husband being published.
I hope Michaela and her family gets the justice. they all deserve. Its a disgrace the way the case was handled
A very welcome invite.
Id say any evidence is a right mess! Be good to think that this would happen might start a proper investigation!
What happens if they find one of the 2 men who were released, guilty? Theres nothing they can do to him.
Double jeopardy?? Nah, if they find new evidence against these guys then they can be brought to justice.
If Double jeopardy applies then they cant, can they???
Thankfully Tommy that’s not strictly how ‘double jeopardy’ operates. The overriding law allows for the guilty to be held guilty when the evidence proves it. As a civil lawyer I’m the worst to opine on criminal matters, but even I could have defended that case against those two! A shambles of a case. I’m not convinced they didn’t do it but I was not convinced they did. Calling in AGS and the PSNI is hopefully what is needed to truly crack the case; even id the answer is not satisfactory.
“if” – hard to get it 100% on the phone :P
Double jeopardy only applies in the American courts.
Double jeopardy means you can’t be tried for the same crime twice, even if new evidence comes to light. I guess they could be charged with some other offence like aggravated theft or whatever similar offence is on the local books.
Where did you get your information that they can’t be retried even in the face of new evidence? Is there a quirk of Mauritian law that makes their system different to the majority of countries where that can happen?
@tommy c. No, if new evidence that incriminates these guys arises, then I believe they can be brought to justice. Anyway, I do hope the family come to some closure on this. I can’t imagine how heartbreaking this is. I am not sure how I would cope.
actually simon the rule exists in alot of commons law systems we got our system from the brits as did the Americans and alot of the world. sure some have evolved differently but alot still have this rule and if it is the same there well even the guards cant do anything to help.
Anyway makes absolutely no difference you cant fix sloppy crime scene preservation at this stage. The damage was done day 1 when they made a mess of it of course as things went on they dug deeper holes but still the fact remains that it wont make any difference. Odds are these were the men that done the crime but now they will never face justice and whats more will probably make money from suing the state and tv interviews.
Sigh :(
I have no faith in this island, its prime minister or this latest attempt at “look we’ll let you see what a great job we’re doing, honest guv”. Assuming this ever came about, and I doubt it, and a garda and PSNI officer went to Mauritius, what then? All they could hope to do is confirm what we already know, that the Mauritian police fcuked up the investigation.
Our gardai will either say A) it’s impossible to say who did it as they original investigation was that bad. The Mauritians will then deny this and insist they are the best in the world.
B) While it was bad the culprits were caught but the evidence against them was shoddy, but they did it. Again thet’ll open a can of worms.
C) They’ll say the suspects did not do it and persons unknown did, but they will never be caught as the investigation was so bad.
In any of these senario’s our gardai and PSNI officers will likely find fault with the Mauritian investigation, they will not go there, investigate and say “aha here’s the culprit”. It won’t end well and Mauritius would be glad to see the back of them, as they were to see the back of the trial and go back to normal.
Your dead on Brian
Poor girl is still gone and someone did it !
The things that lawyers know about,
Are property and land.
But why the leaves are on the trees;
And why the waves disturb the seas;
Why honey is the food of bees;
Why horses have such tender knees;
Why winters come when rivers freeze;
Why faith is more than what one sees;
And hope survives the worst disease;
And charity is more than these …
They do not understand.
They haven’t been invited because it’s announcement was a PR stunt to appease all the negative attention of complicit incompetence and injustice directed towards the tourism dependant island.
have your say