Michaela McAreavey trial accused 'not guilty'

carbon nanotube

they should have brought top notch DNA officials and lab specialists down there from the uk and not rely on being dicked about by Mauritius nobheads.

but sadly, all meangiful dna samples would have been gone by a day i would imagine. Them two mopes were probably busy with dettol and bleach for the two days after the murder.

the bolt

WallyGUFC wrote: »

I read somewhere recently, and it was probably to do with the du Plantier case, that French law is different to most countries in that they can investigate crimes against any French citizen no matter where in the world it happens. I'd assume this is not a part of Irish law.

i wonder would that include ships getting blown up in international waters:rolleyes:

spaceHopper

This whole thing sucks - feel really bad for her family and her husband he's been put through enough. The trail may have been a farce at times but it's not the court that is at fault here they did their job and reached what it probably the correct verdict.

There must have been other theiving going on in the hotel, if the two guys had done it they they would have been able to show they had stolen for other guests in the past. Blame the police, they picked them as probably did it and a confession was beaten out of one of them implicating the other.

JonathanAnon

I find the defence brief's constant references to the Birmingham Six and Guilford extremely patronizing... The celebrations are also extremely distasteful... "Warm and friendly people" ?? Shower of bast*rds more like.

hondasam

JonathanAnon wrote: »

I find the defence brief's constant references to the Birmingham Six and Guilford extremely patronizing... The celebrations are also extremely distasteful... "Warm and friendly people" ?? Shower of bast*rds more like.

If it was your family who was accused of a murder they did not commit would you not celebrate if they were innocent?
While they might be distasteful to us it's a normal reaction imo.

the bolt

Nodin wrote: »

He didn't say they were convicted. He said they were caught and admitted the bombings, which is true. It was the Balcombe street lot.

or some of the balcome street lot and some others who were known to the uk police for years,long before the B6 were freed.likewise with the guildford 4 my understanding of it is that the uk police had confessions years before but didnt believe them and said they were misinformation by the ira .

Motorist

$hithole of a country. One place I'll never visit.

CodyJarrett

Ann22 wrote: »

Doc on now on Rte1 about the case.

Bollocko was on the box? No way. Hope you Sky plus'd it for us.

Mint Sauce

Horrible for the family. But to be honest, I think the Mauritius authoitorities handled the whole thing wrong. It seems in an attempt to prevent their image being tarnished, they picked up to lads who where in the wrong place at the wrong time, tried to pin it on them, or picked up the two right lads but failed to preserve the scene, and had no real evidence against them.

With the professional forensics expert from the UK saying their was no evidence, their own forensics giving the same result, and the behavior of the defence, it was nearly clear from an early stage that they were going to be cleared.

Hopefully the case will be reopened with co-operation from the PSNI to find out what really happened that day.

tigger123

irish-stew wrote: »

Horrible for the family. But to be honest, I think the Mauritius authoitorities handled the whole thing wrong. It seems in an attempt to prevent their image being tarnished, they picked up to lads who where in the wrong place at the wrong time, tried to pin it on them, or picked up the two right lads but failed to preserve the scene, and had no real evidence against them.

With the professional forensics expert from the UK saying their was no evidence, their own forensics giving the same result, and the behavior of the defence, it was nearly clear from an early stage that they were going to be cleared.

Hopefully the case will be reopened with co-operation from the PSNI to find out what really happened that day.

I'm asking a genuine question here, but how do the PSNI come into it? Do they have any authority or influence over the investigation of a crime in Mauritius?

DEFTLEFTHAND

Its hard to see where follow investigations will approach from, I presume they'll look at the husband again but I can't see anybody ever being convicted of this unless concrete evidence comes to light.

the bolt

hondasam wrote: »

I remember thinking the very same thing when I seen Ian Huntley on the news the evening Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman went missing.
We all get our own suspicions when we watch someone talk so I don't think it was a stupid post.

can you give us the name of any more people that you have seen on tv who are guilty,ASG could do with you ,might set you up in templemore so you could teach this new tool to many more.

hondasam

the bolt wrote: »

can you give us the name of any more people that you have seen on tv who are guilty,ASG could do with you ,might set you up in templemore so you could teach this new tool to many more.

ASG or AGS ?

Fentdog84

Having watched the documentary on rte it just seemed to me like the whole thing was a big farce, like a Kangaroo court, with small time lawyers and incompetents who had all their priorities wrong. sad outcome for the McAreavy & harte families.

Mint Sauce

tigger123 wrote: »

I'm asking a genuine question here, but how do the PSNI come into it? Do they have any authority or influence over the investigation of a crime in Mauritius?

I suppose considering that she was a resident or from NI, they might have an interest from that point of view. Whilst they may not have the autority or the duristriction to investigate, they might be able to offer their expertise.

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Its hard to see where follow investigations will approach from, I presume they'll look at the husband again but I can't see anybody ever being convicted of this unless concrete evidence comes to light.

Well the defense at one point seemed to be trying their best to put some kind of blame on him.

gobnaitolunacy

You could make certain allowances for cultural differences etc., but this was a complete disgraceful farce from start to finish. Compare and contrast this train-wreck of a legal and judicial process to the way the tragic death and investigation into that recent Irish girl's murder in Japan was so efficiently handled by the Japanese authorities.

the bolt

hondasam wrote: »

ASG or AGS ?

im sure you know which you being as clever as you are.

jibber5000

I always wondered in this case why the defense focused so much of their time placing doubt on John, instead of attempting to claim that it could have been a number of other hotel employees, a scenario that would have been far more likely..
Also did anyone see Vincent Browne just there.in an Irish times opinion article a few weeks ago he compared michaela to z list celebrities whom the media were obsessed over which I feel was in bad taste and also completely untrue

carbon nanotube

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

You could make certain allowances for cultural differences etc., but this was a complete disgraceful farce from start to finish. Compare and contrast this train-wreck of a legal and judicial process to the way the tragic death and investigation into that recent Irish girl's murder in Japan was so efficiently handled by the Japanese authorities.

True, but Japan is an entirely different country, that place is borderline third world, only the hotels and honeymooners keep it afloat.

How there was no dna evidence is practically a LOL in itself.

KH25

This whole case was handled terribly and its an awful shame that this woman was murdered. Hopefully her real killers will be brought to justice.

As an aside, look at the Mauritius facebook page. The majority of posts on it tonight are downright embarrassing.

wonderfullife

seamus wrote: »

The only thing which makes me think it wasn't him losing the plot is his actions afterwards. People are rarely quite so calm and collected about their movements after such a thing happens. I would expect most people to panic and call a doctor or run.
If he killed her in a rage, then he left the room and went back to the pool before then enlisting the help of hotel staff to get back into the room again and faking the discovery of her body.

He also then held up under police interrogation and cross-examination.

Maybe it's the optimist in me, but I don't think anyone who murdered their wife (who they presumably loved) in a rage would manage to maintain the "grieving husband" facade for very long.

Slightly OT but that's the 1 thing about the Madeline McCann case that stinks right from the off, how they reacted....don't think there is a single set of parents on earth who would have reacted as they did.

It's hard to know. Any number of things could prompt a person to snap and do something reckless that they almost immediately regret. Discovering an affair etc. When reality hits, the grief is still as strong, perhaps stronger.....if you kill someone you love.

I guess bottom line the verdict means there will be continued speculation on the case until/if there is any closure.

Lollipops23 wrote: »

Personally I'd be far more put off going there now than if they'd found the culprits.

Violent murders happen in every corner of the globe, one murder would never put me off going somewhere (hell, i'm going to chicago later in the year!!!)

However, 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.

That doesn't make me want to visit Mauritius any time soon.

drumm23 wrote: »

What about the cheering and celebrating when the Birmingham Six were released ... still meant that a bunch of people had been brutally murdered in a Birmingham pub, so nobody should have been relieved and celebratory at the clearing of the innocent?

Completely natural reaction from friends/family of the accused. Pure relief. If an Irish person was on trial in Russia and family/friends believe they are innocent, a not-guilty verdict would be greeted with the same reaction from said family/friends in the gallery. It's not a deliberate insult to anybody just human nature.

I seriously have no idea why people are holding this against the actual country. So they have an inept judicial system and/or police force? Could name dozens of countries in the same bracket, large parts of South America, Africa. Would people be similarly be put off visiting Norway after the multiple failures re: Breivik? Or the USA with countless death sentences carried out to people posthuomously cleared of the crime?

I've never been to Mauritius but i know given enough thought and consideration i could find reasons not to visit most countries on the planet if the criteria was ineptitude and injustice.

ziggy23

Actually mortified at some of those comments on the Mauritius facebook page. Yes it is a travesty what happened today but no need to tar the whole country with the one brush. People seem to forget about the sheer number of foreigners that were murdered here.

KH25

ziggy23 wrote: »

Actually mortified at some of those comments on the Mauritius facebook page. Yes it is a travesty what happened today but no need to tar the whole country with the one brush. People seem to forget about the sheer number of foreigners that were murdered here.

Its disgusting. Its like a witch hunt. There's so many comments that appear to say that it would have been justice if the men had gone to prison, regardless of being guilty or not.

prinz

ziggy23 wrote: »

Actually mortified at some of those comments on the Mauritius facebook page. Yes it is a travesty what happened today but no need to tar the whole country with the one brush. People seem to forget about the sheer number of foreigners that were murdered here.

Indeed. You don't need to look any further than the Manuela Riedo case to see a bungling incompetent legal system screwing up so badly a young girl is viciously raped and murdered after 3 days in the country.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/snqlcwqlcw/rss2/

wonderfullife

the same people vowing not to go to Mauritius would likely go to England without a second thought yet who can ever forget the Jean de Menezes case, even allowing for the chaotic period it occured in it was the height of incompetence and the subsequent treatment of his family was a disgrace........ i spend a fair bit of time in England - i think it's stupid to hold isolated cases of police incompetence, crime and injustice against the country. Sadly people are doing it against Mauritius.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jean_Charles_de_Menezes

DEFTLEFTHAND

prinz wrote: »

Indeed. You don't need to look any further than the Manuela Riedo case to see a bungling incompetent legal system screwing up so badly a young girl is viciously raped and murdered after 3 days in the country.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/snqlcwqlcw/rss2/

That savage bastard who raped and killed the Swiss girl had previously killed a young man from my home town in Tipperary back in 1996.

scorpioishere

Exactly only John DNA was found on Michaela body and none of the two guys.

scorpioishere

Not at all. If you look on the web you will see that lot of British and Irish still goes to Mauritius after Michaela died last year, even one of the Royal family. This is the first time crime like that happenned there and never a tourist was murdered by a local. Tourist still going there for holidays and Mauritius tourism industry is growing every year. If Brits and Irish doesn't want to go, well other nationalities doesn't have any problem to spend a nice holiday there.

scorpioishere

As a frequent flyer to mauritius i will say it is a safe place. No crime has ever been done on a tourist there. In fact all mauritians respect all foreigners on the island and will greet you on the street whether they knw you or not. Not like in Eire anyway.
Michaela and John was not the only rich person on the planet. More richer people than them visit Mauritius and why they haven't been killed, why? I myself and family have left money for tips on the table and nobody had taken unless i told the maid that she can take it for doing the room.

scorpioishere

Totally agree with you "SKID", some people i think watch too much films.

c montgomery

scorpioishere wrote: »

As a frequent flyer to mauritius i will say it is a safe place. No crime has ever been done on a tourist there. In fact all mauritians respect all foreigners on the island and will greet you on the street whether they knw you or not. Not like in Eire anyway.
Michaela and John was not the only rich person on the planet. More richer people than them visit Mauritius and why they haven't been killed, why? I myself and family have left money for tips on the table and nobody had taken unless i told the maid that she can take it for doing the room.

What is wrong with you?
This woman was murdered, is that not a crime?

Your post is ridiculous!

scorpioishere

Justice has been made. Innocents are out now. What about the boycott some are talking about?? Just to refresh their memories Ireland was one the worst country to visit some years ago, with bombing by IRA everyday. Mauritius won't suffer because one or two irish on the planet will boycott it...

Ellis Dee

This is how a local newspaper reported the acquittal:

http://theindependent.mu/2012/07/13/not-guilty/

And another take on it, with a good deal more detail:

http://www.lematinal.com/faits-divers/17698-Michaela-trial-Avinash-Treebhoowoon-and-Sandip-Mooneea-found-NOT-GUILTY.html


And here's another news item from the Independent. It looks like the cops there really do need to learn a thing or two about human rights, but it's too late to do any good in the McAreavey case:

http://theindependent.mu/2012/07/12/cops-sensitised-about-human-rights/

c montgomery

scorpioishere wrote: »

Justice has been made. Innocents are out now. What about the boycott some are talking about?? Just to refresh their memories Ireland was one the worst country to visit some years ago, with bombing by IRA everyday. Mauritius won't suffer because one or two irish on the planet will boycott it...

Justice will be not be complete until the killer is behind bars.

Can you only see one side of the argument??

iguana

scorpioishere wrote: »

Just to refresh their memories Ireland was one the worst country to visit some years ago, with bombing by IRA everyday.

Um, what now?
I think this is actually the most nonsense thing I've ever read on the internet.
Well done.

up for anything

scorpioishere wrote: »

JIreland was one the worst country to visit some years ago, with bombing by IRA everyday.

iguana wrote: »

Um, what now?
I think this is actually the most nonsense thing I've ever read on the internet.
Well done.

Just give it five minutes and a couple more threads and you'll have to take that back.

iguana

Goes off to read Daily Mail thread.

zom

scorpioishere wrote: »

Justice has been made. Innocents are out now. What about the boycott some are talking about?? Just to refresh their memories Ireland was one the worst country to visit some years ago, with bombing by IRA everyday. Mauritius won't suffer because one or two irish on the planet will boycott it...

There are lot of tourists in Afghanistan and Syria so far - I presume some people just love that touch of risk. Modern western society lives in unusual environment where more people are killed by overtaking sex than guns. And some natural element of danger and life threat is missing.

up for anything

What is overtaking sex? :eek::eek: I thought I knew it all.

Sunnyisland

zom wrote: »

There are lot of tourists in Afghanistan and Syria so far - I presume some people just love that touch of risk. Modern western society lives in unusual environment where more people are killed by overtaking sex than guns. And some natural element of danger and life threat is missing.

Mauratius is far from being Afghanistan and syria,There was a terrible murder on the Island,There was a massive media and Irish public pressure on the police to find the culprits as quickly as possible, That's never going to work.Justice for everyone involved is the biggest loser in this.

BTW I find the comments about boycotting the island as ridiculous, I never heard of Irish people boycotting Donegal,Birmingham,Sallins.All areas where massive public & media pressure led the police to torture and beat wrongful confessions out of innocent folk.

bruschi

As others have already said, the absolute ridiculous posts of sh!thole country, I'll never visit, or boycott it, or its an island of savages, really do make this such a worthwhile thread. I'm glad I live in the same country as these highly educated and thought provoking people.

Such utter utter rubbish. You would swear Ireland was some sort of utopia where we live on fluffy clouds and that no crime has ever been committed or that there has never been a miscarriage of justice.

One very small fact about this island of savages and a place that is so dangerous to tourists. Only one tourist has ever been killed in Mauritius.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/17/mauritius-michaela-mcareavey-murder

Certainly, this is the first time a tourist has been killed in Mauritius

Can we say the same about our lovely pretty country that no tourist has ever been killed and that the perpetrators of said killings are serving time in jail? Maybe we should boycott Ireland. I think you would find you would end up boycotting every country in the world if people are going to use the same utterly ridiculous criteria of visiting Mauritius being made on this thread.

I think it might be best if those who are terrified of the savages in Mauritius just stay in Ireland. Actually, considering there are also murders and crime in Ireland too, you might be better staying in bed.

Doc Ruby

InchicoreDude wrote: »

From the rte report:

Does this mean people were cheering justice in support of the decision????

Seems strange behaviour considering that whoever is the real murderer has not been convicted.

Or were people chanting it demanding justice?

I followed the trial and have no idea if they did it. But as far as I am aware, you have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they were the murderers and there seemed to be a whole lot of doubt if they were....

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.

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.

The hard reality is, and I don't particularly care whether or not it is believed or someone gets offended by it, that in poor developing countries there is quite often a massive chip on the shoulders of the locals about people from developed countries in general. I've been to and through many such countries, this has been my experience. It doesn't often show but if it comes to any us-versus-them situation, considerations of fairness go out the window very quickly.

Just be careful is all, you're farther from home than you think in those places. Go there on holiday if you like, keeping that in mind.

InchicoreDude wrote: »

I remember the Manela Riedo murder in Galway. I was ashamed to be from Galway where a crime like that occurred. If there was a court case where the accused was not found guilty, I would certainly not have been standing outside the court cheering.

There were in fact crowds outside the courtroom at the time, and if the guards weren't present in force, the murderer would have been lynched from the nearest lamp post.

Pumpkinseeds

Whilst I sympathise with her family, I'm very glad that the accused were acquitted, as they rightly should have been. I can't help but feel that the husband had more to do with her murder. I recall seeing her and her father on a programme years ago and it made me feel very uncomfortable to see a woman of her age sitting on her daddys lap. That is not an attack on anybody, merely an observation.

Bad Panda

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Whilst I sympathise with her family, I'm very glad that the accused were acquitted, as they rightly should have been. I can't help but feel that the husband had more to do with her murder. I recall seeing her and her father on a programme years ago and it made me feel very uncomfortable to see a woman of her age sitting on her daddys lap. That is not an attack on anybody, merely an observation.

I didn't think the amateur sleuthing could get any worse on this thread. Congratulations!

I can't believe the idiocy of some people on the thread talking about boycotting the island! Thankfully, it's already been pointed out as to why this is so stupid as I wouldn't know where to start.

I hope for the sake of justice, the case is reopened as I suspect it will be (from listening to the news on the radio this morning anyway) and the culprits caught.

I heard this morning a 'key' witness who claimed he'd seen the accused leave the room/area of the building at that specific moment had 75 contradictions identified in his testimony and it was ripped apart.

Apparently, he testified to that in order to escape prosecution (apologies if this has been said, but I can't remember the entire thread!).

kunst nugget

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Whilst I sympathise with her family, I'm very glad that the accused were acquitted, as they rightly should have been. I can't help but feel that the husband had more to do with her murder. I recall seeing her and her father on a programme years ago and it made me feel very uncomfortable to see a woman of her age sitting on her daddys lap. That is not an attack on anybody, merely an observation.

Wow, a daughter being affectionate to her father. That must have been a harrowing thing to witness...

sunflower27

I have not followed the ins and outs of this case, but i do recall seeing the news story that no dna from either man was found on Michaela's body.

How could they have been prosecuted then?

In any murder case, emotions run high, but there simply wasn't enough evidence.

I always found the whole bath thing strange. So the murderer killed her and then hung around in the room with a dead body long enough to fill a bath and put her body in there.

How risky is that? it isn't like she was in the middle of nowhere and the murderer had all the time in the world.

Very sad for her family.

ejmaztec

scorpioishere wrote: »

Justice has been made. Innocents are out now. What about the boycott some are talking about?? Just to refresh their memories Ireland was one the worst country to visit some years ago, with bombing by IRA everyday. Mauritius won't suffer because one or two irish on the planet will boycott it...

If you pop over to the Bastion of Truth Daily Mail website, you will see comments made by not only Irish people advising a boycott, but people from other much larger nations like the US and UK.

Murderitius tourism will take a bit of a dive as a result.

..oh, and at the height of the troubles, Irish tourism was doing quite nicely, it wasn't Vietnam.

cgpg5

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Whilst I sympathise with her family, I'm very glad that the accused were acquitted, as they rightly should have been. I can't help but feel that the husband had more to do with her murder. I recall seeing her and her father on a programme years ago and it made me feel very uncomfortable to see a woman of her age sitting on her daddys lap. That is not an attack on anybody, merely an observation.

Any basis or just throwing it out there sure?

Honestly I'm all for listening to someone when they've studied a case and can present compelling evidence. If you have any fire away, at the end of the day none of us know for sure. But if not kindly stop throwing accusations like such out there for the sake of it

davet82

During the trial, the defence laid bare gaps in the investigation which have heightened the mystery. These include:

- Police found no forensic evidence linking the two accused to the crime.

- No statements were taken from a number of potential witnesses, including other guests staying in Legends Hotel, close to the McAreaveys' room.

- No other testimonies from potential witnesses in the Banyan restaurant.

- Four fingerprints found in the room were never traced to anyone.

- A German couple recorded arguing in CCTV footage around the same time in the hotel lobby were never interviewed.

quite shocking facts about the trial

karma_

Just when I thought I'd seen the worst of AH, it plumbs ever lower depths.

Some of the tripe posted in here is downright embarrassing.