A defence lawyer's effort to question a police officer about a sex guide found in the Mauritius hotel room where the daughter of Gaelic football manager Mickey Harte was strangled was met with fury by the prosecution, with the case briefly being adjourned.

Principal state counsel Mehdi Manrakhan reacted angrily when Sanjeev Teeluckdharry, representing accused Avinash Treebhoowoon, asked the officer if the book, called The Ultimate Sex Guide, contained material of a violent nature.

"I object in the strongest possible terms," Mr Manrakhan said, as his colleagues slammed papers on their tables angrily.

Mr Teeluckdharry earlier insisted the book went to "the crux of the defence's case".

Judge Mr Justice Prithviraj Fecknah upheld the objections, telling Mr Teeluckdharry that such questions should not be directed at the witness – police sergeant Govinder Ramasawmy – as he had already told the court in the Mauritian capital, Port Louis, that he had not examined the book's contents.

Hotel employees Treebhoowoon, 30, and Sandip Moneea, 42, deny the premeditated murder of the 27-year-old teacher from County Tyrone.

Mrs McAreavey was found dead in her room last January shortly after having lunch with her husband, John, by a pool at the Legends Hotel – now renamed the Lux Hotel – in Grand Gaube.

The prosecution claims she returned to her room and caught the accused stealing.

Mrs McAreavey, from Bally-gawley, Co Tyrone, was the only daughter of Mr Harte, the GAA boss who steered his native county to three All Ireland championships.