A Sunday newspaper in Mauritius has sparked outrage after it published photographs of the crime scene where Michaela McAreavey’s body was found.
The families of John and Michaela McAreavey suffered yet another harrowing set back over the weekend after the Sunday Times newspaper in Mauritius, which has no ties to the Sunday Times newspaper published in the UK and Ireland, decided to publish photographs of the crime scene where Michaela was found dead in January 2011.
According to this morning’s Irish Independent, the French speaking Sunday newspaper published photographs of Michaela’s corpse on its front page, which was labelled ‘exclusive’.
It has been reported that the paper also published 11 black and white crime scene images over a two-page spread, which included:
A full-length image of Michaela, her eyes closed, wearing a bikini top and a skirt; a close-up of the injuries on her neck; the empty bathtub where she was found; and an image of the McAreaveys’ hotel room.
According to reports John McAreavey (pictured above) only found out about the images though the media yesterday afternoon. Both the McAreavey and Harte families described the newspaper’s decision to publish the black and white images as “reprehensible”.
A statement released by the families read: “As the families struggle to come to terms with the result from the trial, this reprehensible and repugnant action by this newspaper is not only insensitive to their grief but it marks another low in the treatment of John, the two families and the dignity of Michaela.
“The Mauritian authorities need now to match their words with actions and ensure that insensitive reporting by newspapers within their jurisdiction does not further exacerbate the violation of Michaela and the hurt to John.”
Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the Government has expressed its shock at the decision to published the images and are to make a formal complaint “in the strongest possible terms” to the government of Mauritius.
