One of the two men charged with murdering Michaela McAreavey said he was not in the County Tyrone woman's room when she was attacked. Avinash Treebhoowoon, 30, and Sandip Moneea, 42, both deny murdering Mrs. McAreavey, who was found dead in her honeymoon suite in January 2011.
The school teacher was the daughter of Tyrone football manager Mickey Harte. The trial in Mauritius heard on Monday that Sandip Moneea's account of what happened through statements he made to police after his arrest.
The jury heard that Moneea was a former floor supervisor who had worked at the Legends Hotel since 2004. He told police that Mr. Treebhoowon had cleaned nine rooms and that he (Moneea) had carried out a spot inspection of one of them, room 1031.
However, Mr. Moneea emphasised on a number of occasions that he was not in the honeymoon couple's hotel room before the murder. Last week, a police sergeant told the trial that another of the accused, Mr. Treebhoowoon, was visited by his father while in custody and police kept a record of the conversation between the two.
He claimed that the accused said: "I have made a mistake, forget your son." Last Wednesday, in emotional scenes, the court listened to Mrs. McAreavey's husband John, who told the court that his life ended the day he found Michaela dead in a bath in their hotel room.
He said his wife had returned from the hotel restaurant to their room to get biscuits. He said he had offered to go, but she had insisted that she would.
"Obviously I wish I had gone," he told the court.
When he went to their room, he said: "I ran to the bathroom, dropped my bag and grabbed Michaela."
He said he pulled his wife from the bathtub, and although he did not know CPR he attempted to resuscitate her.
"I was holding her in my arms, telling her to wake up - Michaela, Michaela, come on, wake up."
Mr. McAreavey said he then screamed for help. In the hours after the murder Mr. McAreavey said four police officers brought him from the hotel to a "derelict-looking building", where he was put in a room. Officers took off his shirt and examined him for marks, he told the court.
"I could see what was going through their minds," he said.
"They put handcuffs on me and I was sat down on a bench."
"It was for at least five hours, I'm sure, more - actually it was late into the night."
He said that after making a statement, he was eventually released and brought back to the hotel where a nurse cared for him through the night.
