No DNA of accused on McAreavey, court told

FORENSIC TESTS on the body of Michaela McAreavey found no DNA traces from the two men accused of murdering her, their trial in Mauritius heard yesterday.

Susan Woodroffe, a forensic scientist based in England, said her analysis of swabs taken from the hotel room where Ms McAreavey (27) was killed did not contain genetic material belonging to hotel workers Avinash Treebhoowoon and Sandeep Moneea.

The daughter of Tyrone football manager Mickey Harte was killed while on honeymoon with her husband, John, in January last year.

The fifth day of the trial heard that the teacher may have died from neck injuries sustained from an armlock, rather than strangulation by the hands, and that initial reports she had a head injury were incorrect.

Ms Woodroffe, who works for Cellmark Forensic Services in Oxfordshire, England, was asked by Mauritian police to look into possible links between the samples and the DNA of the two accused men as well as two other people questioned during the investigations in the case, Raj Theekoy and Dasssen Naraynen.

The scientist told the trial at the Mauritius criminal court that unidentified genetic traces other than Mrs McAreavey’s or her husband John’s were found on the samples.

However, in relation to samples taken from Mrs McAreavey’s neck, feet and fingernails, she told the court: “There is no specific indication that any of Raj Theekoy, Sandeep Moneea, Avinash Treebhoowoon or Dassen Naraynen have contributed to the results obtained.”

Genetic material not belonging to Ms McAreavey or her husband was found on a sample taken from her head. Ms Woodroffe said if it was from a sole contributor then all four men could be ruled out.

Ms McAreavey’s body was found in a partially filled bath and Ms Woodroffe told the court DNA samples left on the body could have washed off when she was placed in the water.

While Ms Woodroffe found no matches from the four men on swabs taken from the body, she did identify a potential match with Mr Naraynen on a key card for the room. “The majority contributor to this [DNA] profile matches that of Dassen Naraynen. As such, it could have originated from him,” she told the jury.

Mr Naraynen, who the trial has already heard had a conspiracy-to-murder charge against him dropped, is facing a larceny charge in connection with the case in separate court proceedings.

Mr Theekoy, whose charge of conspiracy to murder was also dropped, is set to give evidence against Mr Treebhoowoon and Mr Moneea in the trial, after claiming he saw them exit the McAreaveys’ room moments after he heard a woman screaming in pain inside.

Mr Treebhoowoon (30) and Mr Moneea (42) deny the charges against them.

Earlier yesterday, a policeman remained silent when asked about the questioning of Mr Treebhoowoon the morning after the crime. Mr Treebhoowoon alleges police beat a confession out of him following Ms McAreavey’s death.

Constable Hans Rouwin Seevathian of the Major Crime Investigation Team was questioned by a defence lawyer about what he and his team did with his client in a 2½-hours between them arriving at Legends and Mr Treebhoowoon making a statement in a local police station. The court fell silent as the officer did not answer.

After a few moments, Judge Prithviraj Fecknah said: “Let the record show that the witness remains silent to this question.”

When further pressed about that was happening during the hours in question, the officer said he had been questioning the accused about his movements.