A 55-year-old man is in police custody after he confessed to beating and choking his wife to death, wrapping her body in a sheet and dragging it across a street before burying it a nearby empty lot.

The dead woman has been identified as Waynumattie “Dataley” Permaul, 53, a mother of four, including West Indies cricketer Veerasammy Permaul.

The suspect, Avemanen “Terry” Permaul, detailed to police that he overheard the woman on her phone speaking to a male when he became enraged and confronted her.

According to information received, the couple have been separated for the past two years; however, they have been sharing the same house: Terry lives in the upper flat and Dataley as she is popularly called, in the lower flat.

She was last seen alive last Thursday and on the same day a missing-person report was filed by the cricketer. As an investigation commenced, the father was questioned and he initially denied knowing anything about her whereabouts.

However, he was kept in custody, and as the police continued their interrogation, he admitted to the crime in the wee hours of Friday.

He reportedly told investigators that last Thursday, between 18:00hrs to 18:30hrs, he was close to his wife’s bedroom and he overheard her on the phone speaking with a male and decided to confront her.

A heated argument ensued and he physically assaulted her by cuffing and then choking her until she became bloodied and motionless. He then wrapped her in a bed sheet, left her on the floor, walked across about 100 yards opposite his home where there is an empty lot and dug a hole. He then returned to his home where he dragged his wife’s motionless body to the hole, put it inside and covered it with earth and quietly returned home.

Following investigations, sleuths found what appeared to be blood stains on the tiles inside of the lower flat of the house, at the front door, outer part of a metal bed foot area and on the bedroom floor.

Meanwhile, at the home of the Permauls, relatives and close family members were in shock and disbelief.

Because of their emotional state they were unable to speak to reporters.

However, neighbours and residents alike also expressed shock and dismay as news of Dataley’s death spread in the community of Kilcoy/Chesney, East Berbice, Corentyne.

“Quiet, kind-hearted, soft-spoken and friendly,” were some of the words used to describe her by neighbours. At the scene, a garbage bag and pieces of clothing were visible.

A neighbour, Stephanie Henry, recalled during the course of Thursday evening that she noticed the police vehicle and officers at the empty lot next to her yard searching for close to two hours. They left and returned once more around 22:00hrs.

She added that sometime around 01:00hrs, she heard vehicles again and this time she looked and saw police searching in the empty lot and after an hour, she heard a police call out, “The lady here! The lady here!”.

She said upon hearing that her body became weak with the shock of the discovery as she never expected to find her “quiet and friendly” neighbour dead in the empty plot of land metres away from her home.  An investigation into the gruesome murder is ongoing.