The 21-year-old woman who was living with the self-confessed Black Bush Polder murderer said she did not know that he murdered his wife, but confessed that she was wearing the dead woman’s clothing.
Following the arrest of the couple after a missing person’s report was filed at the Whim Police Station on Wednesday, Uma-Davie Nathoo told investigators that she knew “nothing of the crime” and was in disbelief that it had even taken place.
When the remains of the body were unearthed, thereby confirming the victim’s demise, this young woman maintained her innocence. “He (partner) can’t put me in that one!” she said. “I wasn’t there! He will have to face it!” she told the Police.
The young woman was on Friday evening released from custody on $25,000 station bail after Police were convinced that she was not a participant in the crime. Her paramour’s relatives paid the bail.
That same Friday was when the skeletal remains of Wilwantie Balack, also called “Darling”, 39, of Mibicuri North, Black Bush Polder, Corentyne, were dug up from a grave at the back of her yard in the agricultural community. Balack had gone missing in September last year, and her husband had repeatedly told their children that his wife had migrated to the USA. The woman had been last seen by her children on September 3, 2016.
At approximately 11:30h on Friday, her remains were found in a four-foot grave about 120 metres behind the family’s house. Relatives had been searching for her since September 6, the day it is believed she was killed. Her 21-year-old daughter, Dharshni Davi Balack, said her father had given them conflicting information about the whereabouts of their mother, telling the three children that she was in the USA and other relatives that she was in living in different parts of the country.
Suspicion grew as no phone calls were received from Wilwantie; and her husband, 43-year-old Sunildat Balack, also called “Red Man”, brought the 21-year-old woman to live with him. The three Balack children soon discovered that their father’s new partner was wearing their mother’s wedding band.
Speaking with <<Guyana Times>> on Sunday, Nathoo said her entire insides began to tingle when she learnt that she was living with a man who had killed and buried his wife and had told no one. “Is like something start cutting up me whole inside when I hear. You know, like when people drink Gramoxone. Ah heavy, heavy burning start come, and I feel upset,” she declared.
She explained that her relationship with Balack lasted for three months, during which she had returned to her mother’s home on three occasions because of abuse.
Nathoo said Balack had indicated his interest in her while she was still a schoolgirl, but she had never given him a favourable response. She said he would normally visit his mother’s home, which was two houses from where she lived with her parents at Albion, Corentyne.
Her father told this publication that in December last year, when he was attending a religious function in the village, Balack asked him for his home telephone number. He said when he got home, his daughter was on the telephone with someone.
According to Nathoo, Balack told her that he and his wife had separated and she had migrated and was now working as a cook at a restaurant in Florida. “So we make arrangement that he gon pick me up at 12:30h the next day… I meet he on the road and I tell he that before we go to he family, let us go and eat something because I hungry.”
Following that, she was introduced to some of Balack’s relatives, who were very friendly. “They tell me that if I gon live with him as husband and wife, they gon support me; and if he wife come back, they gon back me and don’t let she go back in the house, because is she go away and lef he,” the woman explained.
Meanwhile, Nathoo’s father said she had telephoned the family to say that she was happy and was living with a man, and she explained who he was.
Clothing
The young woman said that when she entered the Balack house, she was shown around and told that the clothing belonged to Balack’s wife. “He tell me that I could wear whatever I want.”
Nathoo had gone to live with Balack without taking much clothing. She had taken only a small bag with her. “I wear some of her sari to go to functions that his family had and he carry me,” she explained.
A week after leaving home, Nathoo visited her parents at their Albion home on the company Balack.
Balack’s family had by then already indicated that they would arrange a wedding ceremony for the couple.
Abuse
She said the first incident of abuse occurred in January, a mere two weeks into the relationship. She was called names and told that his previous wife took care of certain responsibilities. “I tell he that I is not a farm girl and that I frighten snakes and it gon take some time fo me to get use to going in the farm…”
Following the abuse, the woman said she returned to her mother’s home, but two days later, she was back in Black Bush Polder. A month later, she received her first slap. “He slap me and I slap he back, and this man whole face change and he run me and I get away from he… Ah tell he that I sorry and I would not do it again, but he was different from then,” she related.
“He bring me on the road and he start slap me up again. He asking why me leff and go at me Mummy house; that is he biggest problem,” Uma related.
The woman said Balack once threatened to drive his car into a canal with her and jump out, leaving her to perish and then he would report that it was an accident. “Me start to beg and tell am say that me wan live long an that Ah nah go back to me mummy. He said, ‘Alright, Ah hope you stick to that now’…,” she related.
According to her, on more than one occasion Balack asked her to leave, claiming that she was not what he wanted. “I tell he that I ain’t leaving, because he done spoil me already and I staying, so we gon live like husband and wife.”
She said that on one occasion he had threatened her by saying that he was expecting his wife to return. One neighbour was also told that Wilwantie Balack was returning in time for Phagwah.
Nathoo said she stood her ground. “I tell he that I ain’t going back home, because nobody ain’t gon want me now.”
The wedding band
The day after Nathoo moved into the Mibicuri home, she was asked to take the car keys and put them into a bag in which Balack had his licences. “When Ah go in the bag Ah see this ring, is a lady ring and it get a heart, so I ask him who is that ring for. Is a female ring, so Ah start pressuring him: Why he get a ring like that in his bag? He tell me to lef it, that it is not for me. So I start demanding that if he make it for another girl or so, and he say it gon remain there. But I keep pressuring he, and like he just want to satisfy me (so) he give me the ring to wear.”
Contrary to rumours, Nathoo denied that she also wore other pieces of jewellery which belonged to the dead woman.
Meanwhile, Balack is expected to soon be charged with the murder of his wife.
