Michaela McAreavey case ‘could be reopened Mauritius DPP Satyajit Boolell say’s
The director of public prosecutions (DPP) in Mauritius has suggested another investigation will be launched into the murder of honeymooner Michaela McAreavey.
Satyajit Boolell said authorities would not let the matter rest following the acquittal of two hotel workers of the woman’s killing.
“We are now faced with the stark reality of a murder having been committed and no one being accountable for it so far,” said Mr Boolell.
“We have already hinted for the investigation to be reopened, for further investigations to be carried out.”
The DPP described the verdict on Thursday as unexpected but defended the Mauritian police investigation.
He told RTE there was ample evidence to reopen the investigation and that his office was convinced a conviction for the Co Tyrone woman’s murder would be secured.
Sandip Moneea and Avinash Treebhoowoon were cleared of the 27-year-old’s killing by a jury at the Supreme Court in Port Louis.
The nine jurors took just over two hours to find both men not guilty of the murder in the luxury Legends hotel where the victim and her husband John McAreavey were honeymooning in January last year.
Mrs McAreavey was the daughter of Tyrone gaelic football manager Mickey Harte.
The teacher was found dead in the bathtub of her deluxe room shortly after lunching with her husband at a poolside restaurant.
Both defendants worked at the hotel at the time.
Mr McAreavey and other family members were expected to arrive home from Mauritius today.
They appealed for privacy and insisted they do not wish to comment on the outcome of the eight-week trial.
Some HSE staff overpaid by as much as €30,000
Scores of health board staff have been overpaid — some by as much as €30,000 — and many are in no hurry to pay the money back,
Now the HSE is struggling to recover the cash, some of which is outstanding for 30 years.
The overpayments are revealed in a confidential audit in HSE South which was released to the Irish Independent under the Freedom of Information Act.
It highlighted how:
? One nurse who had reduced her hours was overpaid by €30,246 in 2007. Although she increased her working hours in 2010, there was no rise in her repayments of €25 a fortnight. At that rate it will take her 46 years to repay the money.
? Another nurse who was job sharing was paid €25,038 too much between 2001 and 2002.
Her entitlement to sick leave ended in 2009 and since then repayments have stopped, leaving €11,893 outstanding.
? Thirty-one staff who had outstanding overpayments were no longer on the payroll at the end of 2010.
? An amount of €248,572 was overpaid in 2010.
The difficulties encountered in recovering the money are also detailed.
The probe found one hospital consultant who received a large overpayment 18 years ago of €16,054.
Although the Cork University Hospital doctor has repeatedly been asked to follow a repayment plan since then, the balance of €10,125 is still due.
One of the main causes of overpayment is the late notification to payroll departments about changes in employees’ terms of employment, working hours and unpaid absences.
The report said there was a need to strengthen controls to recoup the money in the shortest timescale.
Legal
In a separate audit of the HSE’s voluntary early retirement and redundancy schemes of 2010 it was found that two staff in the Dublin region were overpaid — one by €63,570 and another by €15,024. All of the first overpayment has been returned and legal action is under way to secure an outstanding €1,613.45 in the second case.
Overpayments were also made to foster carers in Dublin West. There are currently 19 cases involving €132,132 that may in the future be recouped.
The audit also found families were not being subjected to garda clearance every three years. A sample of health staff working in the community in Co Louth found there were delays in getting garda clearance and three staff who had worked abroad were not vetted by overseas police.
And an audit of travel payments worth €1.1m to HSE staff providing home care services to people in Donegal found payment was made to 584 workers without any back-up for the actual journeys undertaken.
Meanwhile, more financial controls are needed to oversee how the four support organisations representing victims of Hepatitis C are spending grant funding, which amounted to €6.3m between 2000 and 2010, according to a HSE audit.
It found that there was no service level agreement — where the organisations set out what they would do with the funding — in 2007 and 2008.
In 2007 the annual grant funding amounted to €1.6m and a similar sum was handed over in 2008.
Cannabis plants seized in Galway
Some of the cannabis plants found in a Galway growhouse. Gardaí have made four arrests after discovering two cannabis grow houses in Galway.
As part of an ongoing operation, two searches were carried out yesterday evening at addresses in the Oranmore and Mervue areas of Galway.
Two grow houses and cannabis plants with an estimated street value of €730,000 were seized.
Four men – three in their 20s and one in his 30s – were detained and are being held under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act at Galway Garda station.
The Success of Euro-Science forum
‘boosts Ireland’s reputation in science world’
After five days involving 4000 delegates, 500 speakers, 23 keynote speakers and no less than five Nobel Laureates, Euroscience Open Forum 2012 has drawn to a close.
The conference, which was opened by President Michael D Higgins, drew high profile speakers such as Professor Rolf Dieter Heuer, Director General of CERN; Jules Hoffman, Nobel Laureate Physiology or Medicine; Mary Robinson, former President and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Máire Geoghegan Quinn, European Commissioner for Research and Innovation and Sir Bob Geldof.
They discussed topics including genomics, energy research, healthcare, mathematics, pharmaceuticals, toxicology, astronomy and climate change.
One of the conference’s highlights was a lecture by leading genomic researcher Dr Craig Venter called What is Life – a 21st Century Perspective, which was a recreation of Erwin Schrödinger’s famous 1943 lecture in Dublin.
The latter lecture went on to inspire Nobel Laureate James Watson in his research – which led to the discovery of the structure of DNA 10 years later. Professor Watson himself was also in attendance, and spoke about the influence of What is Life.
Dublin beat off stiff international competition to host ESOF 2012. Copenhagen has been selected to host the conference in 2014.
Professor Patrick Cunningham, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Irish Government said:
Over the last five days, Dublin has played host to the best of international science. Ireland was chosen to host ESOF in recognition of our growing international reputation in science. The success of ESOF, and the showcasing of Irish scientific work, will add significantly to that reputation.
He added that the forum and associated events have brought “a new interest in science to students, business and the general public”.
The Dublin City of Science programme runs until the end of 2012, and all of the various events can be viewed on the official website.
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