Senior Police Officer Blames Hotel For John McAreavey Arrest

The court in the Michaela McAreavey trial has heard how “a dirty game” played by the management of the hotel where she was killed led to her husband being arrested as a suspect.

Giving evidence at the trial of two ex-employees in Mauritius, one of the island's top police officers criticised security staff for not immediately providing police with records of entries to the room where the newlywed was found.

Yoosoof Soopun said if that information had been available to officers at the outset then John McAreavey would never have been detained.

He was handcuffed and left alone in a police station for hours in the wake of his wife's death.

Mr Soopun told the Supreme Court in Port Louis that a reading from the electronic door entry system was not given to police on their arrival at the hotel and was only handed over after "persistent requests".

"I just want to state that hotel management, particularly the chief security officer Mr (Mohammad) Imrit, has played a dirty game with the police," he said.

"Having that information earlier to the police, there's no doubt the poor Mr John McAreavey would not have been taken to Piton police station and treated as a suspect by Piton CID.

"It was only on our persistent requests, my lord, that we obtained the reading and came to know that a magnetic card - JMK supervisor two - has been used at 1442 hours, some two minutes before the lady, the deceased Mrs McAreavey, had accessed the room.”

The prosecution claims that Avinash Treebhoowoon, 31, and Sandip Moneea, 42, murdered the 27-year-old teacher when she interrupted them stealing from her room. They deny the charges.

The trial is ongoing.

(H)