There is widespread shock and condemnation today over a ‘sick’ video that appears to make fun of the murder of Michaela McAreavey in Mauritius.
Criticism has flooded in from across the political sphere in Northern Ireland over the video, which appears to be sung in an Orange Hall. In the video, men are heard singing a song with lyrics referencing the murder of 27-year-old bride Michaela McAreavey on her honeymoon in 2011. Mrs McAreavey, the daughter of GAA manager Mickey Harte, was found strangled in her hotel room 12 days after her wedding to John McAreavey.
The shocking video has been slammed as ‘disgusting’ and ‘deeply hurtful’.
Alliance’s South Belfast MLA Kate Nicholl said she has reported the video to the police, tweeting: “Very few things shock me, but the hatred displayed in the video of men singing & laughing about the horrific murder of a young woman is incompressible. How her poor family must feel. The fact that the words to the song were known and that it was sung during a centenary event at an Orange Order Lodge is disturbing.”
The TUV leader Jim Allister also criticised the footage, saying: “The video glorying in the murder of Michaela McAreavey is beyond disgusting, bringing shame and dishonour on all associated with such loathsome behaviour.”
Councillor Malachy Quinn said: “I haven’t the words to describe my anger at a song being sung mocking the murder of Michaela McArevey, never mind it being sung at a “Centenary Event”. This is beyond reprehensible. Those involved should be bloody ashamed.”
The SDLP’s Patsy McGlone, an MLA for Mid-Ulster, said the video is “about as base in humanity as you can go”.
