Gruesome find on Black Bush farm… Cops dig up missing wife’s remains from 6-ft. deep grave
By Malisa Playter Harry
Sunildat Balack and wife Lilwantie
Shackled and emotionless, 44-year-old Sunildat Balack watched as police dug up the skeletal remains of his 39-year-old wife, Lilwantie Balack, from the six-foot-deep grave in which he had buried her eight months ago.
Police unearthed a skull and a few bones at around noon, after two and a half hours of non-stop digging in an area about 100 metres away from the Lot 117 Mibicuri North, Black Bush Polder home in which the couple had lived.
But they found no clothing with the remains, and this indicated that the killer dumped his victim naked into the makeshift grave he had dug on his two-and-a-half-acre farm.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum said that DNA tests will be conducted for positive identification.Detectives were later seen gathering the bones into a container before taking them away. Balack was then escorted from his farm to the Whim Police Station. The farmer’s 21-year-old lover, who had moved in with him, remains in custody. It is still unclear whether she played a role in the killing.
Divisional Commander Ian Amsterdam, who was on the scene, told reporters that, “we recovered bones and skull. He (the alleged killer) gave us directions to where the remains were (and) we will also be using video analysis for evidence.”
Ranks from B’ Division, their colleagues from the Major Crimes Unit and Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh, were all on site.
From as early as 08.30 hrs, villagers, family and friends gathered at the area in anticipation of police recovering the remains of the woman, who some described as “quiet and reserved.”
Some of the curious lined the street and even climbed nearby trees to get a glimpse of the gruesome scene. Some shed a few tears when the remains were eventually brought to the surface. Overall, though, there was a sense of relief that the fate of the woman who had vanished eight months ago was finally known.
Police said that Sunildat Balack, also known as “Red Man,’ had confessed on Friday to strangling Linwantie Balack, called ‘Darling,’ and burying her in the family’s backyard. He had reportedly committed the act on September 6, 2016, when the couple had argued about her wanting to go to the United States.
A female neighbour, who lives at an adjacent lot, said Lilwantie was a quiet person who seldom left her home.
“She mostly used to deh in the garden with she husband, but he is a kinda hot-blooded type of man andhe does drink plenty,” the neighbour recounted.
The grave
According to the woman, Balack ventured overseas sometime ago and returned, and had indicated during a conversation that his wife would also be “going and take a walk.”
He had later indicated that “Darling’ was overseas.The neighbour said that during that time, Lilwantie’s husband would occasionally visit her home.
“He always come over and we does laugh and talk and me does ask he how long ‘Darling’ gone for, and he tell me three months, and he can’t say exactly when she guh come back, but she go with visa and she have to come back.”
Just about three months ago, the suspect brought home ‘a girl’, and he told neighbours that “Darling nah come back, she tek somebody over deh.”
According to neighbours, he had often attended the Mandir with Lilwantie and the couple’s three children. They expressed shock that he had allegedly committed such a brutal act.
While some were suspicious, most had apparently concluded that ‘Darling’ had indeed left her husband, and had started a new life overseas.
Lilwantie Balack’s horrible fate only came to light on Wednesday after her daughters, who had become increasingly suspicious about their father’s conflicting stories, contacted the police.
“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 she at 66 Village (Corentyne), and 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,” the daughter had recounted.
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 the 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.