By Suraj Narine
To mark the fourth year since the disappearance of Babita Sarjou, the Caribbean American Dom-estic Violence Awareness (CADVA) along with family and friends held a vigil in Kitty, Georgetown last evening as they are seeking to reopen the case.
Scores of persons turned up for the vigil which began at the corner of Seaforth and Campbell streets.
They proceeded on Seaforth Street then onto Sheriff Street where they stopped at the Seawall. Lighting of candles and hymns were performed by members of CADVA and the Caribbean One Billion Rising for Guyana.
According to reports the then 28-year-old Sarjou left her Timehri home on the eve of Diwali—November 4, 2010—informing her family that after work she was going to view the motorcade with her estranged husband and four-year-old son. She promised that she would have been back home at around 9 that night. Relatives never saw or heard from her again.
Programme Director, Diane Madray stated that there will be a meeting with the Crime Chief today to discuss the possibilities of reopening the case since she says that they have new information. She also emphasized that Sarjou’s husband should be seen as a person of interest.
“We are also hoping that the findings from the DNA test could rule out the possibility of her death, and that her case should be one of a missing person in which case, all leads should be pursued. We continue our support of Babita’s mother, Champa and assures her that we will not give up our search for justice in the Babita Sarjou case.” Madray said.
Present at the vigil was attorney at law and AFC leader, Khemraj Ramjattan who stated that no one should forget the disappearance of Sarjou under what he described as “strange circumstances” where prior to that there was domestic abuse. He further stated that “We have to now more or less take the appropriate actions if there is going to be any new evidence that is going to develop out of renewed investigations so that it could be brought to the court once again, I have committed to legal support toward the family”
Mother of the missing woman, Champa Seenarine told this newspaper yesterday that she is convinced that her daughter is still alive and she will not stop searching until she is found. She also said that she feels she is to blame since her daughter would complain to her about being abused by her husband. She is therefore calling out to all mothers to speak out against domestic violence and to stamp out what she described as a “sickness in society”.
Also present at the vigil was social activist, Mark Benschop. He stated that the disappearance of Sarjou is heartrending not only for her family but also for the entire Guyanese population. He also made reference to the Nyozi Goodman case and stressed that these disappearances must be stopped.
“There is no way under these circumstances or times that we should be sending for DNA testing overseas to Trinidad which takes months and in some cases years, it must be stopped. We have recently built a so-called lab and it is unacceptable that we are still sending for DNA testing outside,” Benschop said.
He also stated that, “The other thing is that in regards to this case, Ms.Babita Sarjou
going missing for all these years, I think that the police force has botched this particular investigation and four years after I have joined with the family and to remain optimistic that something is going to come out of this and the family gets to find out what happened to Babita Sarjou and the police force needs to be blamed for this.”
