Twelve years after Babita Sarjou was murdered and buried in a shallow grave, her ex-husband and another man yesterday admitted to the crime and are now awaiting sentencing.
Anand Narine and his co-accused, Darrol Compton called ‘Yankee’, 35, had initially denied the murder charge when they appeared before Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall in the High Court in Demerara yesterday morning.
However, following a change of plea yesterday afternoon, they admitted that on November 4, 2010, they murdered Sarjou.
Justice Morris-Ramlall has deferred sentencing to Monday, February 6th.
Narine is being represented by attorney Siand Dhurjon while Compton is being represented by attorney Nigel Hughes. The State is being represented by Prosecutor Muntaz Ali.
On the eve of Diwali, November 4, 2010, Sarjou had left her Timehri home, having informed her family that after work she was going to view the annual motorcade with her estranged husband and their then four-year-old son.
She had promised she would be back home at around 9 that night. She was never seen or heard from again.
Her estranged husband, Narine, had faced intense scrutiny over her disappearance as there was a history of domestic violence in the relationship, which was evidenced by several reports made at the Kitty Police Station and the Timehri Police Station.
Narine was also charged with the offence of exposing pictures of Sarjou to the public with a view to corrupt public morals after photographs in which the woman appeared half-naked were displayed around her place of employment in 2010.
In 2016, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum had reopened the investigation into Sarjou’s disappearance and the police had made a major breakthrough in the case after the questioning of Narine and his accomplice.
Sarjou’s skeletal remains were unearthed at Narine’s Campbellville residence on May 22, 2016. Sarjou’s relatives later positively identified a pair of slippers, attire and undergarments that were found with the remains as her belongings and samples were taken for DNA testing.
Months later, DNA tests confirmed that the remains which were found were indeed those of Sarjou.
Both Narine and Compton were subsequently charged with murdering Sarjou and on November 2017, they were committed to stand trial in the High Court.
Narine had allegedly paid his accomplice $50,000 and promised him a trip to Trinidad to kill Sarjou. They allegedly dug the three-foot grave two days before she was killed.
