Four days after police dug up the skeletal remains of a woman believed to be Babita Sarjou, her ex-husband and his accomplice were Wednesday charged for her death.Sharadananda Narine called Anand and Darel Keith Ponton called Yankee appeared before Chief Magistrate, Ann McLennan and were jointly charged indictably for the murder of Babita Sarjou.
The duo was not required to plead to the charge, which alleged that on November 4, 2010, they murdered the mother of one. Narine, who is the ex-husband of Sarjou, was represented by Attorney Rex McKay.
The court heard that Ponton is a 35-year-old unemployed man who lives at Lot 50, Broad Street, Charlestown. He was unrepresented.
Prosecutor, Inspector Neville Jeffers, told the court that he is currently awaiting the Post Mortem and DNA report. The duo was remanded to prison until June 21.
Skeletal remains of a person believed to be Sarjou were discovered by police on May 22, in a shallow grave behind her ex–husband’s Lot 51, Seaforth Street, Campbellville, Georgetown property almost six years after she had mysteriously disappeared.
On November 4, 2010, Sarjou left home after telling her mother, Champa Seonarine, that she would be meeting with her estranged husband and four-year-old son at the Kitty Seawall to view the annual Diwali motorcade. That same night she was expected to return to her mother’s Timehri home but she was never seen again.
While DNA samples were taken from the remains to confirm its identity, relatives of Sarjou have already identified a pair of shoes and parts of the attire found with the skeleton as belonging to Sarjou. The duo Sunday led detectives to the spot, located behind a zinc fence on the property.
Sarjou’s husband has stated that he was furious because he suspected that she was having an affair with a man at her workplace. He was also angry that she had taken him to court on allegations that he had posted nude pictures of her online.
It is alleged that he hired the unemployed Ponton, whom he had befriended, to kill Sarjou. Ponton was allegedly paid $50,000 and promised a trip to Trinidad. The trip to Trinidad never materialised.
