Michaela McAreavey trial accused 'not guilty'

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drumm23

Anybody who *actually* followed the trial -not just the verdict- can't argue with this outcome. It would have been an absolute disgrace to convict either defendant on the evidence presented ... which was basically zero.

The only reliable revelation from this trial is that Mauritius is a black hole when it comes to justice and due process.

Scioch

What can be done about this by the Irish state ? Irish citizen murdered, police force incompetent, joke of system run in a manner more befitting a panto than a court of law.

Surely there are routes the state can take to investigate this thing properly ? Personally if I was minister for foreign affairs I'd be advising against travel and making it very clear the dangers in travelling to a mickey mouse country.

mikom

Right result I reckon.
Seemed like a stitch up.................... but now it's time to find the real culprit/s.

noodler

Joey the lips wrote: »

I am not surprised. It sounded like a witch hunt by the police. There is an important lesson here.

The police tried to convict these under pressure. Its clear that is the case. Does it remind you of a famous case in the uk around birmingham?

Surely every international murder is pressurised - but I don't know if you or me can really know enough to call it a witch hunt.

The jury seem to have believed that the guy was tortured though.

Joey the lips wrote: »

Anyone traveling to places this far need to realise the rules and law of the country.

What do you mean here? Was their some rules or laws the Irish party did not follow?

cgpg5

Guys the defence have a job to do, do anything to get their guys off and that involves picking holes in anything you can and using everything and anything of any relevance to your case as an argument. I believe some of the things they said with the sex book and asphixiation was awful to hear but they're just doing their job unfortunately

ncmc

cgpg5 wrote: »

Guys the defence have a job to do, do anything to get their guys off and that involves picking holes in anything you can and using everything and anything of any relevance to your case as an argument. I believe some of the things they said with the sex book and asphixiation was awful to hear but they're just doing their job unfortunately

It's their job to shift blame away from their defendants, but not to point the finger at another prominant person in the trial, ie John McAreavey. The courts should not have allowed that testimony to stand. A farce from start to finish.

who_me

LordSmeg wrote: »

What can be done about this by the Irish state ? Irish citizen murdered, police force incompetent, joke of system run in a manner more befitting a panto than a court of law.

Surely there are routes the state can take to investigate this thing properly ? Personally if I was minister for foreign affairs I'd be advising against travel and making it very clear the dangers in travelling to a mickey mouse country.

We can't really throw stones here - look at the du Plantier murder case; and how the investigation was bungled and attempts were made to introduce false testimony.

opinionated3

Won't be going there on hols.... would not feel at all safe there, cops sound like a bunch of inept fools.

brophs

On the basis of the evidence presented, there was never going to be a verdict of guilty. The bigger issue is why was the evidence so weak? It seems they made the first real suspects the entire focus of their investigation, never mind how shockingly amateur their ability to gather and preserve evidence was.

In situations like this with people baying for blood, imagine how you'd feel if you or someone close to you was accused of something like this. Unless they're sure they simply can't convict. In this case not alone were they not sure, I don't even believe that they had sufficient evidence to present an arguable case.

davet82

who_me wrote: »

We can't really throw stones here - look at the du Plantier murder case; and how the investigation was bungled and attempts were made to introduce false testimony.

there goes my arguement out the window...

Scioch

who_me wrote: »

We can't really throw stones here - look at the du Plantier murder case; and how the investigation was bungled and attempts were made to introduce false testimony.

Not about throwing stones, you cant ignore something like this on the basis we fcuked up in the past, the French state and police didnt throw their hands up and keep their mouths shut with that mess and we shouldnt do it with this.

It has to be dealt with as an isolated incident and looked at with the view of what the Irish state can do to get justice for the murder of an Irish citizen.

scdublin

seamus wrote: »

I'm not really surprised given how much of a shambles the investigation was.

Very tough for her family, no doubt. At the same time I may have felt a little bit disappointed in the Mauritian justice system if they were found guilty after that farcical trial. It's hard to call.

This is exactly how I feel. The investigation was just awful...they never found any DNA evidence as far as I know connecting the two men to the murder....and there's no way that DNA evidence wouldn't have been left for a crime like this, especially when it was alleged that the accused were caught off guard, and therefore would have no time to think about evidence etc.
So like you said if they had been found guilty I think I would have been uneasy too.
Horrible for the family....I'd say they really just want answers and justice.

Laois_Man

LordSmeg wrote: »

What can be done about this by the Irish state ? Irish citizen murdered, police force incompetent, joke of system run in a manner more befitting a panto than a court of law.

Surely there are routes the state can take to investigate this thing properly ?

The family of Sophie Toscan du Plantier would be falling over themselves if they read this post!

They've been tring for years to get their case AWAY from an Incompetent joke of a system in Ireland (in their opinion).

EDIT: I was beaten to it!

alastair

opinionated3 wrote: »

Won't be going there on hols.... would not feel at all safe there, cops sound like a bunch of inept fools.

Pity - given that there's sod all crime there. Safer there than here.

VEN

Keno 92 wrote: »

The ignorance is strong in this one.

not as strong as their ignorance, in the court room, outside in Creole cheering for the verdict just because they're 2 of their own.

to quote Lollipops23:

"the lack of respect shown to Michaela's family throughout has shocked me and sickened me. I can't get over the behaviour of the public gallery and prosecution team, and the judge letting them away with it."

and the poor gathering of the actual DNA:

"The UK scientist said, when questioned by a lawyer for Sandip Moneea, that it appeared that Mauritian police had not taken sufficient precautions to prevent the contamination of samples and the crime scene. She also agreed that samples of the officers present at the scene should have also been sent for analysis."

reminds me how the Portuguese authorities were also incompetent to gather DNA from a crime scene we all know about.

Perhaps if the married couple were Mauritian they might have put the effort in. It wouldn't of had any negative effect on their tourist trade thats for sure.

seamus

LordSmeg wrote: »

Not about throwing stones, you cant ignore something like this on the basis we fcuked up in the past. It has to be dealt with as an isolated incident and looked at with the view of what the Irish state can do to get justice for the murder of an Irish citizen.

I don't think anyone's saying to ignore it. However all the screams and cries about Mauritius being dangerous and a place to avoid, seem to forget that we've had our own ridiculous investigations that didn't suddenly make Ireland a dangerous hellhole.

The Irish can't do anything to "get justice" for the murder of one of our citizens. We must respect the right of another sovereign nation to independently conduct fair trials and whatever about the screwed up investigation, we can't pressurise the Mauritian government into convicting someone for this crime. All we can do is ask them to keep looking at it.

Laois_Man

I wonder does double jeopardy apply in Mauritius law?

Can either or both of these guys still be tried again if new evidence is found?

noodler

The du Plantier is no reason for the Government not to make an issue out of this through its various sources.

What about those three scrotes who killed the Polish lad on the way to work? They got their deserved sentence and just because they did does not mean we should have any extra moral authority to express concerns at diplomatic or other appropriate channels.

DEFTLEFTHAND

kingcharles82 wrote: »

Sad story and my heart goes out to the family of michaela

Is it not true that both men signed confessions in front of their solicitors!!then a year later are found not guilty because fancy barristers can put doubt in the mind of the jury, badly trained police officers on a holiday island did not help the case though

One man confessed but he claimed he was subjected to extreme physical violence by police to give it. The jury obviously saw this as a false confession.

BlaasForRafa

Lollipops23 wrote: »

That's the thing- making out like they were mad for their auto-asphyxiation stuff, when she just had a magazine insert from cosmo, talking in-depth about the fact that she had her time of the month, like for fúcks sake give the girl some dignity.

I'm so bloody upset by this whole thing, it's the most a murder in the media has ever affected me.

The whole trial was carried out in a shambolic manner. The two accused may have done it but the prosecution made a mess of their case, the defence team were an utter disgrace and did their best to slander the victim and her husbandm the judge doesn't seem to have exerted any control over his courtroom and the the public gallery were allowed to behave without any decorum whatsoever.

I hope that tourism to these islands completely plummets, thats what they deserve for running a tinpot lawless little country.

Scioch

Laois_Man wrote: »

The family of Sophie Toscan du Plantier would be falling over themselves if they read this post!

They've been tring for years to get their case AWAY from an Incompetent joke of a system in Ireland (in their opinion).

EDIT: I was beaten to it!

That makes no sense. They would fall over themselves if the Irish state tried to do what they tried to do and start a proper investigation into a murder ?

And because that investigation was a disaster we are incapable of every investigating anything ever again ? Shall we dismantle the entire Irish judicial system because of it?

Lollipops23

Laois_Man wrote: »

The family of Sophie Toscan du Plantier would be falling over themselves if they read this post!

They've been tring for years to get their case AWAY from an Incompetent joke of a system in Ireland (in their opinion).

EDIT: I was beaten to it!

Just as Sophie's family are entitled to justice for their daughter, so are Michaela's.

If I'm not mistaken, Michaela had dual citizenship for UK and Ireland? We should be banding together to get justice for her.

BlaasForRafa

seamus wrote: »

We must respect the right of another sovereign nation to independently conduct fair trials and whatever about the screwed up investigation, we can't pressurise the Mauritian government into convicting someone for this crime. All we can do is ask them to keep looking at it.

You're calling that pantomime a fair trial???

goat2

this is horrible, a beautiful person murdered, and the murderer is walking the street, what can her family do now.

alastair

VEN wrote: »

not as strong as their ignorance, in the court room, outside in Creole cheering for the verdict just because they're 2 of their own.

Or, quite possibly, innocent. What language would you have rathered they use?

Scioch

seamus wrote: »

I don't think anyone's saying to ignore it. However all the screams and cries about Mauritius being dangerous and a place to avoid, seem to forget that we've had our own ridiculous investigations that didn't suddenly make Ireland a dangerous hellhole.

The Irish can't do anything to "get justice" for the murder of one of our citizens. We must respect the right of another sovereign nation to independently conduct fair trials and whatever about the screwed up investigation, we can't pressurise the Mauritian government into convicting someone for this crime. All we can do is ask them to keep looking at it.

No but a lot of lessons were learned from the Du Plantier case through international pressure. It wasnt dismissed and is still highlighted as a disaster of epic proportions. The Irish government shouldnt sit back and say "Oh well, we are no better". They should doing all in their power to make sure the Mauritian government knows this shít isnt good enough.

augustus gloop

If these 2 men are innocent, then fair enough, we seen enough people going to jail for the sake of it from this country.
Im not up on the law but is that it? will they look more for the killer or leave it at that?
her poor poor family, god love them, you wouldnt wish it on your worst enemy

Laois_Man

LordSmeg wrote: »

That makes no sense. They would fall over themselves if the Irish state tried to do what they tried to do and start a proper investigation into a murder ?

And because that investigation was a disaster we are incapable of every investigating anything ever again ? Shall we dismantle the entire Irish judicial system because of it?

Didn't say we were incapable of anything!

I said how I think the family of Sophie Toscan du Plantier would react!

And if the Mauritian authorities complained in a couple of years about some other country's justice system, I think the Harte/McAreavey families would react the same.

Scioch

Laois_Man wrote: »

Didn't say we were incapable of anything!

I said how I think the family of Sophie Toscan du Plantier would react!

And if the Mauritian authorities complained in a couple of years about some other country's justice system, I think the Harte/McAreavey families would react the same.

You said they would fall over themselves at the thought of the Irish state seeking justice for the murder of Michaela. What happened in that case or how the Du Plantier family feel about it is no basis to not try to find justice for Michaela's family.