No judge available so Babb still not buried

WHILE the family of Baljit Lalla will be able to bury him, today, the family of retired constable Carlton Babb has no such luck. Up to press time, they were still trying to locate a judge to certify their request to have his body exhumed for proper burial. Babb, 53, whose decomposed body was found at his Malick home on April 5, was buried in error by Dass Funeral Home when officials of the Forensic Science Centre released the wrong body to them. Lalla, 37, had died on April 3. His body was released to his family yesterday and will be buried today under Hindu rights.

St Rose Funeral Services, who were contracted to bury Babb, went to the centre on Thursday last to collect the body and was told to return on Tuesday, because it could not be found and because of the long Easter holiday weekend. When they returned, the body was still missing. When the error was discovered following some checks on Tuesday, five days after Babb was buried in a Longdenville, Chaguanas grave, his family was told that a High Court order was needed to exhume the body.

They are also required to produce a number of documents showing their relationship to the dead man. Babb’s father, former DCP Randy Babb, and other family members who flew in for the funeral, which has now been adjourned indefinitely, collected all the required documents but were unable to secure a judge to hear the matter. Efforts to contact Randy Babb were futile, but relatives told Newsday they expect to have the matter heard before a judge this morning and have him buried by tomorrow. The High Court reopened yesterday after the Easter vacation.