Disappearing without a trace: The Barbita Sarjou case

Jan 08, 2012 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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By Michael Jordan

If there’s one lesson you learn in this profession, it’s to never take anything for granted; never assume that things are exactly the way they seem. So that’s why I’m keeping an open mind about what has happened to Barbita Sarjou.
I’m not assuming that the 28-year-old who has been missing since November 4, 2009, has run off with a lover, or that she’s left the country, or even that she’s dead. But I’m asking myself this: Why would a pretty young woman disappear without a trace, while leaving her salary, passport, wedding rings, and the little son she loves behind?

I learned this lesson about not taking things for granted after a woman disappeared just like Barbita some 17 years ago.
Around 1995, a Guyana Defence Force lieutenant placed an advertisement in the Stabroek News in an effort to locate his wife, Wendy Saigo-Brown. The woman, a City Council employee, had reportedly gone to visit her husband at his Camp Stephenson, Timehri base.
After the visit, the husband reportedly accompanied his spouse to the public road, where he watched her enter a Georgetown-bound minibus. She was reportedly the only woman in that bus.
I was at the Chronicle back then, and a colleague, Michelle Nurse (Michelle Griffith then) casually said to me: “I hear that the husband thinks it’s a rape/murder…”
I said never assume, but right then I somehow knew that Wendy Saigo-Brown was indeed dead. I also knew her killer, and where her body would be found.
The next day I visited her parents and learned that they, too, harboured the same suspicion. They said that the couple had marital problems. But Wendy had not turned up at her mother’s home, as women who leave their husbands usually do.
I told a retired detective, whom I had befriended, about my suspicions.
After listening to the story, he said he also felt that Wendy Saigo-Brown’s husband may have had something to do with her disappearance.
We began to meet almost daily to discuss the matter.
The former detective suggested that police investigators allow the husband to take part in the search. He believed that the husband himself would lead the search-party close to the body, and would pretend to be grief-stricken when she was found.
But by then, the lieutenant had been placed under close arrest. Meanwhile, Wendy Saigo-Brown’s relatives mounted a daily search for the missing woman.
I was at home one afternoon when a source called me: “They just find her purse,” he said.
About five minutes later the source called again. “They just find the body.”
Wendy Saigo-Brown’s decomposing remains had been found in a bushy area near Camp Stephenson.
The husband was charged with her murder, but, to everyone’s surprise, a jury found him not guilty.
And so I come to the case of Barbita Sarjou, whose disappearance is even more puzzling.
Barbita Sarjou’s mother, Champa Seonarine, said that her daughter left the mother’s Timehri home on November 4, 2009, after telling relatives that she was going to watch the Diwali motorcade after leaving work.
The B.K. International employee reportedly left work in the company of friends, whom she allegedly told that she was going to her husband’s home in Kitty. There, she would pick up the couple’s four-year-old son and go to the motorcade with her husband.
The couple had been living separately for some time and the husband was said to have custody of the son.
Ms. Seonarine said that Barbita had planned to return home by 21:00 hrs, but never did. Family members attempted to contact her on her two mobile phones but they appeared to have been turned off.
Ms. Seonarine claims that the following day, a female relative received a text message from a man who is closely associated with Barbita, and who Barbita’s family suspects abducted her.
The message reportedly said “Happy Diwali.”
The same man reportedly sent another text message enquiring whether Barbita had turned up. The message reportedly stated: “Any news? Call me back.”
Mrs. Seonarine said she first informed ranks at the Timehri Police Station about her daughter’s disappearance then made a similar report at the Kitty Police Station. That led to police detaining and questioning Barbita’s husband and searching his home and septic tank. They also searched two other homes, but found no trace of the missing woman.
Checks with Immigration officials showed no records of her leaving Guyana.
Then, almost a year later, a man reportedly began contacting one of Barbita’s sisters on her mobile phone.
According to the sister, the caller appeared to believe that she was Barbita’s mother. He reportedly identified himself as ‘Ricky’, and said that he owns two minibuses which operate on the East Bank of Demerara.
She alleged that the caller claimed to know of Barbita’s whereabouts, but would make excuses whenever she asked to speak with Barbita.
The sister claimed that the man suggested that she meet him near the Diamond New Scheme Access Road, so that he could take her to the house where Barbita was staying. But he never showed up.
She informed police officials at the Brickdam Police Station about the calls and provided them with the caller’s mobile number. Investigators arrested two brothers who operate minibuses in Diamond. She alleged that the brothers first told the detectives that ‘Ricky’ was out of the country, but later denied knowing anyone by that name. They were subsequently released.
She said that the mystery caller subsequently contacted her on December 11, 2010, on a different mobile phone. Kaieteur News was provided with the numbers, but no one answered them. The sister expressed fear that her sibling is the victim of foul play and the persons responsible for her fate were taunting the family.
Champa Seonarine, meanwhile, is adamant that her daughter did not disappear willingly, particularly since the young woman’s passport, wedding and engagement rings and salary were left in her bedroom.

If you have any further information on the whereabouts of Barbita Sarjou, please contact us at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown office or by telephone. We can be reached on telephone numbers 22-58452, 22-58458, 22-58465, or 22-58491. You need not disclose your identity.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address: [email protected].

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