Dassen Narayanen, a former security guard at Legends Hotel, who later became Lux, was arrested again on Tuesday 29 March by the Major Crime Investigation Team (MCIT) of the Southern Division, eleven years after the investigation into the murder of Michaela Harte, an Irish teacher who was on her honeymoon in Mauritius. This followed a request from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for a new investigation into the case. Dassen Narayanen was first arrested on January 18, 2011, on a conspiracy charge.
On January 10, 2011, Michaela Harte, was murdered in her hotel room. This case was widely reported in Mauritius as well as abroad, especially in the British press. The day after the murder, three valets had been arrested. They are Raj Theekoy (who hanged himself in October last year), Avinash Treebhowon and Sandip Moneea. Raj Theekoy, who had incriminated his two colleagues in the case, was granted immunity and star witness status by the DPP’s office. He was released on parole on April 28.
It was around 2 p.m. on the afternoon of March 29 that Dassen Narayanen was apprehended by this MCIT team led by assistant Heman Dass Ghoorah. This man was accused of having given a master card to Sandip Moonea so that he could have access to room 1025 occupied by Michaela Hart and her husband John McAreavy.
After eight weeks of trial, on July 12, 2012, Avinash Treebhowon and Sandip Moneea had been unanimously acquitted by the jury members in the court of assizes. The conspiracy charge against Dassen Narayanen was dropped in 2013. During his interrogation in the afternoon of Tuesday. he was taken of a malaise. He was taken to Dr. A.G. Jeetoo Hospital where he was admitted. This suspect who was discharged in the morning of Wednesday, March 30, was subsequently taken to Mapou court. He is facing a provisional charge of Conspiracy to commit an Unlawful act, to Wit larceny.
