John McAreavey, Michaela's widow, says: "Perhaps people will now understand the type of bull**** I have had to put up with for so long."
The murder investigation of Irish woman Michaela McAreavey, who was strangled while honeymooning in Mauritius in January 2011, is set to take a "new direction," according to a lawyer for the McAreavey and Harte families.
Dick Ng Sui Wa, the lawyer for the Harte and McAreavey families, said on Wednesday that “there will be a new team that will be assembled to take over the case. We must give a new direction to this investigation.”
The new investigation will be conducted by a new team from the Central Criminal Investigation Department under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioner of Police.
Sui Wa noted that he resigned from Mauritius' Independent Police Complaints Commission last October, which leaves him free to "resume my activities with John McAreavey."
McAreavey, however, seems skeptical of the "new" probe. On August 4, he wrote on Twitter:
I note that the Mauritius Gov has launched a ‘new’ police investigation into Michaela’s murder. This comes one week after I questioned their partnership with @LFC . Perhaps people will now understand the type of bullshit I have had to put up with for so long. #justiceformichaela
— John McAreavey (@john_mcareavey) August 4, 2020
The news of a new probe comes just days after McAreavey publicly slammed Liverpool FC after announcing a new deal with the Mauritius tourism board.
“Mauritius can’t guarantee tourists safety and have complete disregard for victims of murder,” McAreavey wrote on Twitter on July 21.
Really disappointing from @LFC ... @PKJugnauth and Mauritius can’t guarantee tourists safety and have complete disregard for victims of murder. #justiceformichaela https://t.co/0KZUxps9m8
— John McAreavey (@john_mcareavey) July 21, 2020
McAreavey later followed up his comments by tweeting that he has “huge respect” for Liverpool as a club, but added that the new deal “makes me feel sick.”
I have huge respect for @LFC as a club, for everything they stand for and how they have pursued justice for their own people for so long. Seeing this makes me feel sick.
— John McAreavey (@john_mcareavey) July 21, 2020
Michaela McArevey and her new husband John, a native of Co Down, were honeymooning in Mauritius, a popular tourist destination for Irish holidaymakers, in January 2011 just days after their wedding in Co Tyrone.
On January 10, 2011, Michaela returned alone to the couple's hotel room to pick up a snack to have with her tea. Investigators believe she was wrestled to the ground when she entered her room and strangled before she was placed in the bath with the water running, where her husband found her a short time later.
The murder of the 27-year-old schoolteacher Michaela, the only daughter of Tyrone GAA boss Mickey Harte, made headlines around the world. Thousands of people turned out for her funeral which was held at the same church in Co Tyrone where she and John married just weeks earlier.
The funeral procession for Michaela McAreavey as it approaches St Malachys Church near Ballygawley in Co Tyrone on January 17, 2011. (RollingNews.ie)
In 2012, following a nearly two-month trial, a unanimous verdict was delivered that found former employees of the Legends Resort, Avinash Treebhoowoon, 32, and Sandip Moneea, 43, not guilty of Michaela's murder. No other suspects have successfully prosecuted.
That same year, John launched the Michaela Foundation, which runs the Michaela Foundation Girls Summer Camp and other initiatives for young people that “encourage the practice of all the values Michaela, her family and friends hold dear.”
In 2015, the same year that McAreavey remarried with the blessing of the Harte family, John and the Harte family reached an out-of-court financial settlement with Legends resort after suing the hotel for €1.6m. All monies awarded in the settlement, bar some of John McAreavey's expenses, were reported put into to the Michaela Foundation.
In 2017, John McAreavey traveled to Mauritius to offer a reward in hopes of finding more information about Michaela's killers.
Another step forward today. Hoping our appeal & award for information can trigger more activity in case. #justiceformichaela #mauritius pic.twitter.com/78Um100P9d
— John McAreavey (@john_mcareavey) April 4, 2017
Last year, McAreavey, along with his sister Claire McAreavey and Michaela's brother Mark Harte, published a podcast, "Murder in Mauritius" which "details with the harrowing events of her murder together with the shambolic court proceedings during her murder trial in 2012."
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