Mauritius honeymoon murder accused 'suffocated' before confession

Mrs McAreavey, the daughter of Tyrone Gaelic football manager Mickey Harte, had been enjoying tea with her husband of 12 days in a poolside restaurant

A hotel cleaner accused of murdering honeymoon bride Michaela McAreavey in Mauritius has claimed that he only confessed to the crime after police "suffocated" him with a towel.

Prosecutors said Avinash Treebhoowoon, 30, told detectives that he and co-accused Sandip Moonea, 42, decided to kill Mrs McAreavey after she "caught them red-handed" stealing from her room.

Mr Treebhoowoon claims he was then forced to sign a statement admitting that he had strangled the former beauty queen-turned-teacher, from Ballygawley, Co Tyrone.

The statement was written on January 12 2011, just two days after former beauty queen Mrs McAreavey, 27, was found dead by her husband John in the bath of their room at the island's five-star Legends hotel.

Sanjeev Teeluckdharry, Mr Treebhoowoon's lawyer, said his client was beaten on the face and heels before making it.

Reading from a complaint he made to court authorities shortly after the murder, he said: "I was made to suffocate in a towel." On another occasion, Mr Treebhoowoon alleged, officers mock-drowned him. "I was placed on a table. I was undressed and a pail of water was filled," he said in his statement.

"I was on a chair, I was gripped by the neck and placed in that pail of water.

"On the following day, two officers took me in the morning in a van and I was beaten up."

Jurors were told that police had failed to dress their suspect in an anti-contamination suit when they took him back to the crime scene.

According to a crime-scene photographer, they also neglected to wear the suits themselves.

The case against Mr Treebhoowoon and Mr Moneea is expected to last two to three weeks. Mrs McAreavey was the only daughter of Tyrone Gaelic football manager Mickey Harte. She died on honeymoon, 12 days after marrying Mr McAreavey.