Convenient incompetence how well it worked to protect Mauritis

This is a very similar story to that of the West Memphis 3, only they were convicted of the murders of three young boys. Lack of evidence, loss of evidence, lynch mob mentality, police incompetence. They were put away for nearly 20 years, an absolute disgrace. Thankfully that didn’t happen here. I’ve heard it said before that it’s better to have ten guilty men walking free than to take away the freedom of an innocent man

I believe that, unfortunately, Rob is spot on. When there were arrests for this I thought “oh oh, that was a bit quick”. I hope they’re not grabbing the nearest suspects and throwing the book at them to prevent an immediate withdrawl of tourism.

Then, as the trial began, I heard a correspondent on newstalk say something along the lines of:
‘While there is no forensic evidence, the prosecution will present a lot of circumstantial evidence which they believe will, in conjunction with witness testimony and the (now retracted) confessions, present a compelling case for murder against the defendants’.

Then as the trial went on, even that circumstantial evidence unraveled. The story with the most holes, for me, was the guy who supposedly heard the crime, hid in an adjoining room as he was afraid, saw the accused leaving the room, and initially claimed not to have seen or heard anything?

Those poor families have been dragged through this for nothing.

Rob thanks I rushed with my previous comment as did not know all the facts that I know now, my knowledge stopped when they supposedly confessed to the crime, did not know they were forced to, etc.

Mattoid, I think that most people here believe the police cooked up. Whether or not it was in putting a case together against these two men or finding any other person involved in this poor girls murder.just a sad day all round for her family.

Mattoid, I think that most people here believe the police cooked up. Whether or not it was in putting a case together against these two men or finding any other person involved in this poor girls murder.just a sad day all round for her family.

Scapegoat is one thing and living in a small community where anything and everything get to be known one way or the other is a completely different thing. It was only flaws from the part of the police that has allowed what has just happened today. Information is easy to be obtained, the only thing was to collect evidence and present a massive solid case, which wasn’t the case. Sadly so but Pure and simple. You would have known this had you had a better perspective about how the system works over there.

@Fotocrat
So basically what you’re saying is “they’re guilty because everyone knows they’re guilty”…
A bit like the Ian Bailey case here…

So, you are finding the whole country guilty? Boycott Mauritius because of a court verdict that you disagree with, so ordinary people who depend on tourism for their livelihoods suffer? That sounds fair alright…

Going by that logic, why bother go to any other country, and why should people come here?

Oh i forgot, we have a perfect legal system here, where only the people who go to jail are the ones who deserve it 100% of the time, the police investigate things the right way and never make mistakes and the law is properly enforced the whole time.

By the way, i was being sarcastic.

Spot on Shane! This crowd Are even worse that that lot in Cork!!

there was skin tissue found under her fingernails, for a woman that clearly died in a struggle id say that amounts to some evidence wouldnt you?

And what prey tell became of that evidence Jerry?it was dismissed as it was not related to either suspect which would bring you back to no evidence from the scene to bring before the jury.

Seems that way to me Graham. Perhaps it would make more sense for people to direct their anger at the bumbling idiots to ran the investigation than the Judge for his verdict.

Glad to hear someone talking sense. This case against them was extremely poor. I became increasingly convinced of a fit-up by the police as the case progressed. DNA evidence that didn’t match the suspects, statements against them obtained under duress (the threat of prosecution for murder), the withdrawal of their confessions (which the claimed where obtained under torture) and the evasiveness and hostility of the Mauritian police witnesses. That all adds up to a lot more than reasonable doubt in my mind.

My heart does go out to the families who have no resolution today, but I do think justice was done.

Yep. Beyond reasonable doubt is a difficult thing to prove. I don’t think the verdict confirms them to be innocent, there was enough for the defense to do their job of casting doubt. The outcome will provide no solas to the family of Michaela and I hope the killer(s) are caught and tried fairly.

Maybe the French shouldn’t come to Ireland since The Gardai never solved the Sophie Tuscon du Plantier case. Stop talking nonsense.

Meh, whatever you say chief.

The cops ruined this case and between them, the defense and the public gallery they showed a complete lack of respect to the family.

So what hotel room was du Plantier murdered in by the hotel staff…chalk and cheese!!! Not even a comparison by any stretch of the imagination…

ha ha, your scared of comments!

Disgraceful prosecution, actually. From everything I read about the trial, I’d have delivered the same verdict. Aside from a confession beaten out of them, there was f*ck all evidence to suggest they did it. No less heartbreaking for the family because of that, but two injustices don’t equal justice.

Did you actually follow the trial? It would have been a disgrace if they had been convicted as there was no reliable evidence suggesting they were guilty. The longer the trial went on the more likely it seemed that they hadn’t done it.

It was the police that are to blame here, from following the trial it seemed they just grabbed the handiest patsies they could and set about getting them convicted. I would like to think it was more incompetence than malevolence but I obviously don’t know.

I feel dreadfully sorry for the Harte and McAreavey families. It will obviously be even more difficult for them to move on given the lack of closure.

But it would have been an even greater tragedy had two innocent men been convicted of this murder. All in all this is a horrible mess that it seems will fester for many years.

Then who dunnit?

Let’s face it, none of us knows who actually did it. All that is certain is that the investigation was massively cocked up.

Totally agree. Some Investigating officers have made a mess of the case. Now there is one question to be considered! How are some detectives recruited to join elite teams? There should be independent enquiry set up to investigate this matter. The Prime Minister and the Commissioner of Police should be held accountable. As being an ex detective in the Mauritius CID, I know that some people don’t deserve to be on such teams as they are not experienced at all and just seek a referral from ministers/deputies so as to be transferred on such teams because of the image it carries and also because of the extra money that’s involved. All views my own here. It is just not possible to take someone who has been looking after petty contraventions, vehicle clamping and working in a regular police support team, without first hand experience in investigative work and statement writing to be transferred to Criminal Investigation Dept. It can’t be allowed to have an officer deponing in the supreme court in such a serious case and the latter can’t recollect anything!!! What’s the point of being an investigating officer!! Am going to Mauritius on holiday soon and am sure I will have to go to court for all my pending cases and am sure I will recollect all the cases that I’ve been investigating 5-6 years back. This corrupted practice should end. It took only that particular case to bring those practices to light. It’s very sad to see 2 men, who I strongly believe to have committed the crime to walk away free due to inconsistencies in the investigative work. Today is a shame for the Mauritius police as a whole. My heart goes to the Harte’s and McAreavey’s family and on behalf of the Mauritian Nation and Mauritius Police, am asking them for forgiveness in what I can translate to be a gross miscarriage of proper criminal investigation.

It’s a shame u think that! If u followed the case, assuming u have a bit of logical thought process and some intelligence, u would have realised how flawed it is!

I feel sorry for the families, all they had to go through in the last two months for nothing, the police out there are a bloody disgrace.Seems like a very corrupt country.I hope us Irish people now will stop going there. All these island paradises are not what they are cracked up to be.I hope that John and the Harte family will find they strength to go on and find some happiness in the future.

Amazing how many people on here are conviced the pair were guilty, despite a total lack of evidence. If you think the treatment of the Guildford four and Birmingham six was wrong, how can you think that that a conviction here could possibly be right??

It will no doubt be hard for the relatives of Michaela to take as they also appear to be convinced of the pair’s guilt, however it would have been a tragedy if two innocent men were jailed and the real killer was still walking free.
Hopefully the real killer(s) will be caught and prosecuted someday…

@Aditya That’s exactly my point. I’ve been following the case since its opening and what I want to point out here is that it’s the police’s fault, which should be independently enquired as to how they can have such incompetents working in a respected and highly effective team. If you are familiar with the Mauritius Police, then you will probably know about Late Mr Radhoa, former Superintendent in Charge of CID and MCIT. I use to work under his command and if he was still here, all such incompetences wouldn’t have been allowed. One can never involve politics in police work. This particular case is a major one and should have been flawless.

You clearly haven’t a clue about the case. It was obvious from the start that the two accused were being used as scapegoats

Furthermore, the incompetences go well above the frontline investigating officers. It goes right through to DCP Crime and through to the DPP as well. All similar cases, after investigation, the completed case file has to be submitted to DCP Crime through the Officer in Charge of the enquiry, who will then decide if there is anything missing or not and then the case file will either be sent back to the investigating officer for further enquiry or if satisfied with all the evidence on hand to be above reasonable doubt, he will then submit it to the DPP for a decision. So, I can guess there were flaws all along the chain. Let’s us guess about the competences of top management of the police and prosecution service. Again politics, as these guys are placed there not for their knowledge and competencies but for allegiance to politics. If I can rightly recall, earlier today I’ve read in an article that the sitting judge, Justice Fecknah mentioned something about not being influenced by politics and to leave tourism industry to politics. This is a great phrase as he knows how things tend to work out and warned against this. I am probably right or wrong to the eyes of certain readers, but my views are my own and I stand by them.

They admitted guilt and provided details of the crime that wernt released to the public…

…and then they claimed that they falsely admitted guilt under torture and that the information in their confessions were given to them to the police.

The jury found this more credible than the police’s account.

Well its the only decision to be made seeing as how the cops investigating it screwed up. If they had done their job properly they it would have been different

Aidan did you ever hear the quote innocent until proven guilty..The jury listened to the evidence and found the two accused not guilty.What is so disgraceful about their decision….Too many occassions innocent people have been sent to prison for crimes they did not commit purely on the basis of getting a result.We as a country have seen enough evidence of this behaviour during the 80s.Least we forget one witness was given inmunutity to prosecution if he appeared on behalf of the prosecution even though he was arrested on suspicion of committing this murder.As someone who has followed this trial i would have found it very hard to return a verdict of guilty due to the fact that there was no fingerprints,dna etc from either accused on the body.So wether you like it or not justice has prevailed and two innocent men have escaped been fitted up for a crime they did not commit just to protect the island industry…Maybe now a proper investigation into this murder will take place and the real culprit will be apprehended….

Too right Aidan…I purposely avoided Murderitius as a destination for my honeymoon last September. The bungling police force there are as scary as the possibility of getting murdered in your own hotel by the staff. The international media attention today will copper fasten this…

So would you now allow your daughter to holiday there alone?? Or even with company??

Anybody know what happened to the Garda in question in the Sophie Toscan Du Plantier case or will we ever hear about anything happening to the incompetent morons in the Mauritius police force?
I doubt it.

Policing the police is not popular anywhere. Neither is reporting on their mess ups; taking pictures and interviews of family member of victims sells a lot more papers and gets more website posts.

@Tom, would you let your daughter go to Donegal? London? Birmingham? Mauritius isn’t the first place to have dodgy cops.

Tom, Of course not . I would not let her go to West Cork or Mauritius much safer to keep her locked up at home …
Are you for real !

Tom I suggest you keep your daughter in your cellar. Possibly chained up :)

Martin, it is very easy to be flippant but this happened to a family, a husband and a whole sporting community who are very dear to the hearts of all GAA supporters in this country. The case was obviously handled with total incompetance and indeferance to the people affected in the hope of smoothing over their tourist industry. I, for one will not be contributing to their precious tourist industry as a result and it is obvious from the comments here that most people think the same.

And that worked out really well. Western police forces are just as corrupt and incompentent. Poor chap in that case was set up and is still living with it to this day.

Yeah I know that, but it’s not relevant to how a British investigation would proceed in this case. It’s important that it is done.

Poor poor families and widow- I can’t comprehend the anger they will feel after this..there should be a public apology made by the Government of Mauritius to both families. So grossly unjust!

The outcome was expected by anybody who followed the trial and saw that these men were being used as scapegoats.

In the OJ Simpson trial the lawyer managed to convince the jury that DNA evidence was not reliable because it was a relitavely new analysis technique. The cops were not to blame in that one. If OJ was tried today he would have be convicted.

They had plenty of evidence for the OJ Simpson case. The cops didn’t mess up, the jury did.

The evidence against them was circumstantial with a heavy reliance on confession and one statement by a second witness.However it is wrong to say that there was proof of torture by the police. There wasn’t.

Well said Brat

I just want to add that I also feel very sorry for the families of the two men and the men themselves who had to go through what must have been a terrible ordeal over the past year or so. I just hope for all involved that someday there will be closure on this case.

What special inside information do you have which proves these two are guilty?

You should really talk to the Gardaí about that.

I have to agree with Michael the two accused were working in the hotel at the time of her murder. Whoever did was definitely working in the hotel as they gained unforced access into her hotel room and they also knew that she wasn’t in the room…come on guys it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work it out it may not of been the two accused but I bet my bottom dollar it was someone working in the hotel.

Not much different to the Irish justice system I’d say!

You do realise Africa is a continent, not a nation with one justice system?

EH Rod the Irish justice system works very well. years of evidential rules have made it the safest possible system when the one person who can say who killed them is well unable to testify? You can’t lock up innocent people just because you feel like it.

I suppose we should be proud of our history of juries completely disregarding genuine claims of police brutality in extracting confessions, and the series of miscarriages of justice that followed, both discovered and undiscovered.

@ciaran. yes I do. lived in south Africa for 30 years.

I wonder would you get 50K because the police had the wrong address on a warrant in some jurisdictions? I think the Irish system works quite well. If a wrong is done by the police they don’t get away with it.

Lived in South Africa for 30 years? Might explain your bigoted remark. Feel free to return…

Should they have had two innocent men sentenced for murder so that the family would have closure?

They were found not guilty: there was not sufficient evidence to say that they committed the murder. The jury sat through the entire case so they know the facts better than any of us. You can’t just throw someone in prison to make yourself feel better.

If you imprison someone without reasonable proof, the victim is still dead, the real culprit is still free, and an innocent person has been put in prison. I wouldn’t call that justice.

Are you kidding me? These men have been found innocent, their prosecution was a farce, they were beaten in police custody. Are you really saying you would rather two innocent men were sentenced to life in prison so the family could have ‘closure’?

i take back what i said about the jury..i regretted saying that as soon as a i posted it but couldn’t edit the statement.

ido still believe justice has not been served though because the prosecution didn’t provide sufficient evidence. i actually don’t believe the two men who went on trial actually did it but the whole trial was an absolute farce so we’ll never know who did it because the proper steps weren’t taken in the beginning to get proper useable evidence against whoever committed the crime. i just feel sorry for the families because they were given the false hope that someone might be charged for this when they just arrested the wrong men from the beginning.

You can’t charge and sentence suspects simply to ease the suffering of the victims, or provide ‘closure’. There was doubt in their convictions.

Really, after a loss such as this, I don’t believe a family ever has this closure that everyone speaks of. The grief is with them always. That is their sentence.

Justice was served missy

Oh and shame on u

how do you mean shame on the jury they gave the verdict on the evidence they were presented and they gave the right verdict not guilty

Disgraceful investigation we should all boycott this island for holidays until there is justice

Well in order for that to happen they need to be found guilty.

And you can thank the investigating cops for not doing their job properly that lead to a sham of a trial

But they may not actually have done it. It could very likely be the case that the police might have got it wrong too. It was up to the prosecution to show beyond reasonable doubt that these two men were the ones that murdered Michaela and convince the jury of that. It is likely that the jury didn’t want to put away two men who may have been innocent either. Maybe the jury thought that the police handled it badly and that affected the outcome of the trial. The whole thing is an utter mess: from the arrests to the trial. I hope one day the Hartes and McAreaveys get closure and justice is done. God bless them, it is an awful situation to be in.

Kevin cos Ireland dishes out first world justice all the time! Bigotted comment! Funny I seem to think Ireland as lot less first world than u think

The whole trial was a farce. A further crime would have been committed if these men were found guilty.

Kevin, you reckon that putting citizens to death is a hallmark of a first-world country? I would have thought that was the hallmark of a country that doesn’t respect human life, a ‘barbocracy’ if you like….

So, you think the Mauritians would rather risk damaging their tourist industry for the sake of these two peasants?

There are two possibilities:

One, they did it but the behaviour of the police during the investigation in their haste to get a quick arrest and confession tainted any possible prosecution beyond repair.

Two, somebody else did but the behaviour of the police during the investigation in their haste to get a quick arrest and confession arrested the wrong people, making the chances now of finding the real killers extremely slim.

Either way, the police seem to be to blame for this verdict, not the jury: they seem to have discharged their duty properly.

Thanks Peter Nolan. The last I heard was weeks ago and thought they confessed to the crime. What a nightmare then for the family. All these weeks talking shi…e in the court to imprison wrong guys? Seriously how hard can be track guilty person in 5 star resort clearly somebody is covering someone. What a mess…

And the prize for the most idiotic and racist comment on this article goes to…

What has religion got to do with anything?

“comment” of the week lol

Jaysus, just when I thought I’d read it all on the journal, a new and more improved idiot pops up.

No shortage of bosons in your head…….

According to RTE’s Tommie Gorman, another couple reported seeing a person acting suspiciously near the McAreaveys’ room. He says this information was not presented in court.

According to the sound bites from Tommie Gorman these guys were guilty from day one while it was a terribly sad and a tragic case. Tommies coverage of it was completely biased due to I presume his close involvement with the Irish families who were in turn very involved with the prosecution team.
I would say his reporting on a daily basis was one of the most unprofessional and one sided pieces of garbage I have heard in a long time .

You thought it pointed in their direction? Should we convict people on the grounds of strong suspicion?