An online call for justice in the wake of the Michaela McAreavey trial is being organized via Facebook. ‘Justice for Michaela in Mauritius “In Loving Memory of Michaela”’ has been created in order to show solidarity with the Harte and McAreavey families and to help put pressure on the Mauritian government to continue in the hunt for Michaela’s murderer.

Frank McCarron, the Facebook group’s organizer, said in an email to IrishCentral: “I started this online march in support for justice as we in Northern Ireland know just how hard and how long real justice can take.”

“I thought an online march by the people from Mauritius and Ireland might achieve something with it and put pressure on The Mauritius government to do more and not sweep it under the carpet,” added McCarron.

To date, the Facebook group has attracted 725 members. The information section for the group reads “THIS IS A ONLINE MARCH NOT A PHYSICAL ONE. [It] Has been organised to show support for Michaela and her families fight for justice in Mauritius. Everyone welcome from around the world who believes in Justice.”

During her honeymoon with new husband John McAreavey in January of 2010, Michaela was murdered in the couple’s hotel room in Mauritius. The couple had been married for less than two weeks when tragically Michaela passed away.

Two staff members from the hotel in Mauritius were charged with Michaela’s murder but were recently acquitted. Calls for justice have now poured in from all over the world, beseeching the Mauritian government to not forget about Michaela and to find her killer.

The Irish Sun
reports that Dick Ng Sui Wa, Mauritian lawyer for the Hartes and John McAreavey, recently commented that he thought “it’s a good idea” to exhume Michaela’s body in order to acquire DNA evidence.

Retired murder detective Alan Bailey, formerly of the Garda’s Cold Case Unit, initially proposed reexamining Michaela’s body after the two accused men were cleared of the murder charges.

Said Bailey, “If the murder is to be solved that would be a perfectly reasonable line of inquiry to be considered.”

“If someone grabs you around the throat, the first thing you will do is try to pull the arm away. There should be DNA under the fingernails. A hand covered her mouth and ideally the swabs from her mouth should contain the DNA.”

However, Tom Kelly, a spokesman for the Harte and McAreavey families said that an exhumation was “absolutely not” being considered currently.

“That’s just not where the focus is. We’re very, very far from that.”