Missing Black Bush wife strangled, buried in backyard

Mar 31, 2017 News

-husband and lover held

Police are preparing today for the gruesome task of digging up a backyard at Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder, Berbice, where a 44-year-old farmer is believed to have buried his 38-year-old wife, some eight months ago, after strangling her.
The victim, Lilwantie Balack, 39, of 117 Mibicuri North, Black Bush Polder, is believed to have been slain on September 6, 2016, but the husband, Sunil Datt Balack, had told the couple’s three children conflicting reports about her whereabouts, including claiming she had run off with a man to the United States.
But under intense questioning yesterday, the farmer reportedly admitted that he had strangled Lilwantie during a quarrel and buried her in the backyard. Immigration records also gave no indication that the missing woman had travelled overseas.
Police have also detained a 21-year-old woman, who the suspect took as his reputed wife, after his spouse disappeared.
The suspects are in custody at the Whim Police Station.
“We will secure the scene and Crime Scene Ranks will have to assist us (today),” a senior police official told Kaieteur News.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum said that ranks from the Major Crimes Unit will also be travelling to Berbice to assist in the investigation.
Lilwantie Balack’s horrible fate only came to light on Wednesday after her daughters, who had become increasingly suspicious, contacted the police.
Mrs. Balack’s eldest daughter, Darshanie Devi Balack, 20, said that she last saw her mother on Saturday 27 August, 2016.

DIFFERENT STORIES
“When I ask my father, where is she, he give everybody different direction. First he tell us that my mother is at Cane Grove; he tell my brother at 66 Village (Corentyne), when I ask my grandmother, she say she (the mother) is at Mahaicony.”
According to her, the father told her brother that “Somebody come pick up she (the mother) in the night.”
“So dem ask he if somebody come pick she up, why she nah carry none clothes or nothing; he tell them that the people dem wah pick she up bring clothes and so fuh she”.
She also said that on September 6, last, her father told them and other relatives that their mother, “fly out.”
She explained that her mother had visited the US prior to September 6, and had stayed with her uncle, their only US-based relative.
“She nah deh with me mamoo (uncle), he deh looking fuh she right now”.
Two months after they had last seen their mother, her father brought a woman to their home. According to the daughter, her father claimed that he had known this woman for seven years. He then presented his 21-year-old new partner with a wedding ring, which the daughter recognized as her mother’s.
“I can watch the ring and know is my mother ring, it fade out and so.”
Police said that even while he was in custody, other individuals were apparently attempting to suggest that Lilwantie was still alive. A source said that investigators received a phone call from a man who claimed that the missing woman was living with him at Rose Hall.
Eventually, the farmer, under questioning, reportedly said that he and Lilwantie had quarreled over her wanting to travel to the US. He had then choked her until she was unconscious, then buried her in the family’s backyard.
Mrs. Balack’s fate has eerie similarities to that of Babita Sarjou, who vanished on the Diwali Night of November 4, 2010. Her remains were found almost six years later in a shallow grave behind her husband’s home in Seaforth Street, Campbellville.