Michaela Harte’s family launch legal action against honeymoon hotel where she was murdered

Harte and McAreavey families seek almost $2million compensation

By: PATRICK COUNIHAN | Published Monday, October 22, 2012, 7:34 AM | Updated Monday, October 22, 2012, 7:34 AM

Michaela Harte’s family are to sue the hotel where she was murdered on her honeymoon for almost $2million.

Newspaper reports in Ireland have confirmed that the Harte and McAreavey families have begun their legal action.
 
The Irish Sun reports that documents have been lodged against the Mauritius resort where the 27-year-old was strangled in 2011.

They plan to donate the majority of any compensation awarded to a charity foundation set up in memory of the teacher.

The daughter of Tyrone football boss Mickey Harte, Michaela was found dead in her room at the exclusive Legends Hotel in January 2011.

The paper reports that the trial of two hotel workers accused of her murder heard she had left her husband John at a poolside restaurant to get biscuits from their room when she was attacked.

But Legends employees Sandip Moneea and Avinash Treebhoowoon were found not guilty of her murder by jurors at the island’s Supreme Court in July.

Sources have confirmed to the Irish Sun that a civil action has now been lodged by John McAreavey and the Harte family against the Lux Hotel Group in the Mauritian courts.

The report says the basis for the case will be the claim that the hotel failed to provide a safe place for Michaela to stay.

The hotel’s general manager Brice Lunot said: “We have not yet received official notification of the case so it is too early to comment at this stage.”

After the hotel workers were acquitted, the Mauritian authorities vowed to launch a new probe into the murder but to date there have been no new developments in the case.