Latest update December 4th, 2024 2:40 AM
Lover of alleged killer says…“I could have been dead just like his wife”
– says farmer told her to wear murdered spouse’s clothes
The horror has begun to register for 21-year-old Oma Devi Nathoo that she had lived for almost four months with a wife-killer, had worn that dead woman’s wedding ring, slept in her bed, and even walked over the victim’s grave whenever she went into the backyard.
It’s also now dawning on her that she, too, could have joined that wife in a grave hidden by rows of bora and other vegetables.
Speaking to reporters yesterday after being released from custody, Oma Devi Nathoo insisted that she had no idea that her lover, Sunildat Balack, had murdered his wife, Lilwantie Balack, and that her remains lay in a grave a mere 100 yards from the Mibicuri North, Black Bush Polder home in which she and her lover lived.
“You know like when people drink gramoxone? Meh feel like meh stomach a turn and scrape. I grieve when I hear he kill she. Meh stomach start cut meh up”.
Nathoo, who is from Albion Front, Corentyne, Berbice, said she had known the suspect and his wife, since they used to visit the community regularly. She revealed that the farmer’s mother lives about two houses away from where she (Nathoo) resided.
But she said that for the past two years Balack began to come to Albion alone, and she assumed that the couple had separated. He also began to ‘hustle’ her and contacted her by telephone. By December 14, she said that the farmer had managed to convince her to move in with him at his Black Bush home, and she agreed.
She stated that before she moved in she inquired about his wife and Balack told her that “she gan overseas and nah come back.” Nathoo stated that the next day while cleaning up she noticed a ring in one of his bags and she inquired who it belonged to. Her lover responded “dat not for you.”
The lover: Oma Devi Nathoo
Sunildat Balack and his wife, Lilwantie Balack
“Men binna wonder if he buy it for some other gal or something; that’s why meh keep asking and eventually he get fed up like and he give me the ring fuh wear.” She described the ring as gold with a heart on top. The young woman stated that when she moved in there were clothes scattered about the house including his wife’s clothing. According to her, Balack also told her that if she ever needed anything to wear she could wear his wife’s clothing. She said that they relationship was a good one for the remainder of December but in January of 2017, that changed.
They began to argue for minor things she said, he would control her and order her around the home and if she disobeyed he would ‘trip’. She said in February they had a major argument, and he reportedly beat and dragged her in the yard of his Black Bush home, he also told her that “meh wife coming back so you go got to move out, because me go tek she back”.
Another argument erupted one day when he requested that she “sun some bora seeds,” and when she didn’t, he allegedly slapped her several times and became verbally abusive. She alleged that she was once denied food, and even though he eventually agreed to buy her a meal, he was bickering and threatening her.
But why did she stay?
“He tek meh as wan wife, so me had to stay.” Nathoo said that on days when they didn’t argue they would both venture into the farm behind the home and plant their cash crops but she stated that he never lingered at the spot where his wife was buried.
According to the lover, Balack would repeatedly speak about his wife; sometimes saying “meh wife use to garden with meh” and “meh wife had skills,” referring to things she did around the house when they were together.
She described their relationship as “isolating” and ‘controlling, and claimed that Balack drank heavily.
She learned the ugly truth last Friday, when police dug up the skeletal remains of Lilwantie Balack from her lover’s backyard. The grave was partly hidden by rows of bora vines.
Now that the terrible truth has come out, Nathoo insisted that she would not visit the alleged killer while he is incarcerated.
“I can’t, I would never, wha he do to she (his wife) he cudda do to me, but I had no idea he was capable of that, I coulda been dead too.”
Balack is likely to be charged with his wife’s murder today.
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