Relatives identify clothing found in shallow grave

Babita Sarjou’s remains

Hours after the skeletal remains suspected to be those of missing Timehri, East Bank Demerara woman Babita Sarjou were found in a shallow grave behind her ex-husband’s house, her relatives on Monday positively identified the pieces of clothing also found as belonging to the mother of one.

Champa Seonarine, the mother of the dead woman, visited the Lyken Funeral Home where she confirmed that her daughter indeed left home wearing the pair of shoes found in the three-foot shallow grave. The grieving mother also identified a piece of clothing belonging to her daughter.
Meanwhile, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum told Guyana Times that the Police have successfully applied for an extension to further detain the two suspects – the woman’s former husband, Shardanand Narine and his accomplice, Darel Pronton.
Blanhum added that the case file would be completed and sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack today for legal advice. He noted that once the DPP advised in favour of the Police, the men would be passed through the court system as soon as possible.
He further noted that they have already made a case against the two men based on their confession with respect to their involvement in the disappearance and ultimately murder of the young woman.
The two men told investigators that on the night of November 4, 2010, they ‘collected’ the young woman in the vicinity of the National Cultural Centre.
Pronton, who was paid $50,000 and promised a trip to Trinidad and Tobago for his aid, strangled the woman to death while she sat in the front seat of the vehicle.
The body was then taken to Narine’s home where they waited after midnight before burying it in the grave which was reportedly dug two days prior. The motive for the murder was clear – Sarjou had made a court case against Narine, who had circulated nude photographs of her after he accused her of being unfaithful.
After the woman’s disappearance, the murder suspect held out that he was in no way involved in the murder. The case that was made out against him was also thrown out of the High Court mere days before the gruesome discovery.
On Sunday, both men confessed to the murder and gave a detailed account of the killing; more so, they led investigators to the area where they buried the woman.
After digging for some five hours, detectives located the rib-cage of the woman. As they continued digging, they found a skull, several bones, a pair of high-heeled shoes, a brassiere, and bits of clothing.
Sarjou’s ex-husband, who showed no remorse along with his accomplice, was escorted out of the yard and taken to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) headquarters where they were further grilled. At the scene, the mother of Sarjou gave a sound warning to the man’s wife urging her to be careful: “Once a killer is always a killer,” she shouted. “If he can kill he first wife, he can kill the others…I telling you to be careful.”
Caribbean American Domestic Violence Awareness (CADVA) Director Dianne Madray, who was a key player in efforts to find Sarjou, was extremely upset as she recounted telling senior Police ranks to conduct a thorough search of the premises when she disappeared.
“If they hadn’t taken my words for granted, we didn’t have to wait till six years later,” she added, while noting her concerns for the 10-year-old child of the now dead woman who had to endure the sight of his mother’s remains being dug up.