Questions are being asked in the tourism hot spot about the unusual haste with which police have brought murder charges against three hotel staff in the Michaela Harte case
TWO EMOTIONS outstripped others for Mauritians as the Michaela Harte tragedy developed on the tropical Indian Ocean island over the course of last week.
When members of the public gave their opinion to The Irish Timesabout the events unfolding before them most displayed genuine sadness that a honeymooning couple from Ireland could have their futures destroyed in such a brutal way on their island home.
As the week progressed, however, and the international media – predominantly from Ireland and England – arrived to cover the tragedy as it developed, their sorrow was in many cases overtaken by amazement.
According to taxi driver Baboo Ramnath, most of the people he had talked to about the death as he went about his job had never seen the authorities move so fast to secure admissions of guilt from individuals charged with such a serious crime as murder.
“People I have talked to were very shocked and saddened by what happened to the Irish couple holidaying with us. Mainly because something like this rarely happens to tourists here – at least I do not remember it happening before at such an exclusive hotel. But also because many people here rely on tourism for their livelihood. Now they are afraid that such a thing will scare tourists away.
“Life here can be hard for many people, so tourism is very important. We are not the only island in the region known for tourism, and maybe foreigners will now choose the Seychelles over us.
“We are glad to see that the police have been successful at their investigation, but murder cases often go on for years here. We wonder how the police can be so successful with this case when in many local cases they seem to have greater difficulty.”
Michaela Harte, the daughter of Tyrone senior football manager Mickey Harte, was on honeymoon with her new husband, John McAreavey, at the exclusive Legends Hotel in Grand Gaube, a fishing village in the north of Mauritius, when she was strangled in her room.
Room attendant Avinash Treebhoowoon (29) of Plaines des Roches, floor manager Sandip Mooneea (41) of Petit Raffray and cleaner Raj Theekoy (33) of the Cottages have all been charged in connection with her murder. The first two have had a provisional murder charge brought against them, the last a charge of conspiracy to murder. All three were arrested and charged within 48 hours Harte’s body being found. By Thursday morning the police said they had secured confessions from two of the three men.
WHILE THE authorities’ all-action approach to the case appears impressive, one has to ask if the way they have gone about handling it weaken the prosecution’s case when it comes to the trial.
The legal system in Mauritius is similar to that of its old colonial master, Britain. Some of the foreign journalists covering the story this week have expressed major reservations about how the authorities have dealt with the accused. Could the amount of evidence given to journalists covering the investigation prejudice the case and lead to claims of trial by media? Also, confusion surrounds which of the accused has allegedly admitted to what in relation to Harte’s death, as conflicting information has been circulated by lawyers for the accused as well as the police.
In addition, a highly unusual statement was made by the Mauritian head of state, Sir Anerood Jugnanth, on Thursday night. When local press yesterday asked him to comment on the case he said: “Those who killed Michaela Harte do not deserve to live.”
Journalists’ confusion over how the authorities are dealing with the case is shared by Ravi Rutnah, a barrister representing murder accused Avinash Treebhoowoon.
Rutnah, who only recently returned to Mauritius to practise law after 13 years working as a barrister in England, said the method of inquiry used by the police to build their case against the three accused is archaic at best. “I have been taken aback . . . Until yesterday I did not know my client was going to confess, but that is what I have been told by journalists. I was surprised to hear my client had confessed in front of me, as this did not happen.”
Rutnah went on to say that when he met his client in police custody he advised him to exercise his constitutional right to silence. The police found this unacceptable, he said. “For advising my client that he had a right to stay silent I was threatened by the police that I would be put in jail for obstructing the inquiry.”
Rutnah also pointed out that during the initial court hearing he asked that an independent doctor examine his client, to look for evidence that he had been beaten and tortured while in police custody, a claim his client made. A police doctor was appointed to carry out the task, however, and he found that the accused had not been harmed. “I specially asked for an independent doctor, and even if I did not one should have been appointed. I feel that a lot of things happening with this case are not right. I am now considering whether to approach the government to try and get the system reformed.
“I am going to take points of law [in relation to the procedures the police have followed] in this case at some point. But I have not made up my mind what strategies I will employ. I have to bear in mind that someone has lost their life, and justice needs to be done.”
Looking at the value of the tourist industry to the Mauritian government, as well as the jobs it provides to local residents, it is not difficult to conclude that wrapping up this case quickly is of the utmost importance.
ALONG WITH THE finance, sugar and textile sectors, tourism is one of the pillars of the Mauritian economy, which is recognised as one of the strongest in Africa.
Despite the impact of the global downturn on western nations, visitor arrivals to Mauritius rose by 6.8 percent between January and November last year from a year earlier, buoyed by an increase in tourists from France and Germany. The ministry of tourism said in a statement at the end of last year that tourist numbers for the period were 819,978 – extremely high when one considers that the volcanic island has a population of just 1.3 million. “France and Germany were our main markets during this period. They progressed by 9.2 percent and 2.3 percent respectively,” the statement said.
Revenue for 2010 from the tourism sector has been forecast at about 39 billion rupees (€965 million), up 9.3 percent on the 35.6 billion rupees generated in 2009, the central bank said.
By Thursday evening the publicity had had an extremely negative effect on the price of shares in Naiade Resorts Ltd – the company that owns Legends hotel – on the local stock market, as they dropped 6.2 per cent.
Has a need to protect the country’s tourism sector prompted the authorities to deviate from acceptable procedure in a bid to secure convictions quickly? Rutnah believes so. “It is my impression the police are acting under lots of pressure from international quarters. In addition, the prime minister’s office is in charge of the police. I feel a lot of sympathy with the family, but the government has not acted responsibly in this case. They have over-reacted.”
Paper-thin paradises?
Fionn Davenportexplains why many tourist idylls are not what they seem
Mauritius prizes its tourism business, as was evident this week from the many statements from the authorities following Michaela Harte’s death and the swift response from its security forces. It is one of many relatively poor countries where tourism is a major local industry. In some countries tourism is the only local industry; this isn’t the case in Mauritius. In many tropical paradises there is a sharp contrast between the rich visitors and the poor workers and locals.
Whether it’s the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean or anywhere else along the tropical belt, what lies beyond the wall of the tourist compound is very different from what lies within it. Inside the wall is perfection: gardens in bloom, golf courses the right shade of green, pool an idyllic 32 degrees.
Beyond the perimeter fences and the phalanxes of security personnel that patrol them lies the developing world, with all its socio-economic ills: chronic poverty, unemployment, terrible sanitation and non-existent services. Enormous efforts are made to shield tourists from these realities.
Mauritius is by no means the worst example. Holidaymakers to Dubai will never get a peek inside the compounds where most of the emirate’s imported labour force resides. Visitors to a top-end resort in the Maldives will see only the main international airport, in Malé, before being whisked off by motorboat or aquaplane to their hotel, which often occupies its own atoll. And so they’ll never suspect that many of the 80,000 foreign workers who live in the country, primarily as hotel employees and construction workers, are, according to a US state department report published in 2009, subjected to “fraudulent recruitment practices, confinement, confiscation of identity and travel documents, debt bondage, or general slave-like conditions”.
This isn’t the case in Mauritius, but many hotels and resorts throughout the tropical belt use staff sourced by recruitment agencies, usually from countries even poorer than the ones they are moving to: Bangladesh, Burma, the Philippines, Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala.
It is common for service-industry workers to work longer hours for less pay than they were originally promised, to be housed in substandard conditions and to incur debt bondage that they will struggle to clear. It is hardly surprising that petty theft, the most common spillover of these injustices, is a fact of everyday life in the tropical belt.
Paradise devotes a lot of energy to ensuring the tourist never becomes aware of these realities: it’s a matter of economic survival. Local authorities go to great lengths to protect guests from life beyond the perimeter fence – hence the security presence and often a gentle-but- unequivocal suggestion to guests that they need not venture too far off the reservation unless it’s by organised tour. It might be paradise, but not for everybody.
Fionn Davenportis a writer for Lonely Planet
