Husband of missing New Westminster woman Nirla Sharma released on bail
Credit to Author: Nick Eagland| Date: Sat, 29 Feb 2020 02:12:26 +0000
The husband of missing New Westminster woman Nirla Sharma was released on bail this week after previously being charged with threatening his wife and then violating bail conditions. The couple’s daughter insists he is distraught by the disappearance and played no role in the vanishing.
Rishi Deo Sharma, 44, is accused of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm on Jan. 25 and then breaching three release orders between Jan. 26 and Feb. 25 after his arrest. None of the charges have been proven in court.
A Feb. 28 release order shows that Risha Sharma is now required to follow 12 conditions. He is due back in court March 4.
Vanessa Sharma, 20, has been searching for her mother and putting up missing-person posters around the city. Search-and-rescue teams and police have been working around the clock, and keeping in close contact with the family, she said.
Her father’s charges are a distraction from what matters more than anything right now, which is finding her mom, she said.
“I know — and everybody that truly knows us knows — that there is nobody that my dad loves more than my mom, aside from his kids,” she said.
Vanessa Sharma said she spoke with her father Friday and he could barely get a word out because he is so distraught about his high-school sweetheart going missing. She has hope that she will be found soon.
“My mom is the toughest person that I know and that’s the only reason that I feel like I’ve been keeping it together as well as I have been,” she said. “We just want to hug her and tell her how much we missed her, and how much we love her, and just never let her go.”
Nirla Sharma, a 44-year-old mother of two, was last seen Sunday at around 9 p.m. at her home in the 300-block of Lawrence Street in New West.
Vanessa Sharma daughter of Nirla Sharma. The New Westminster police major-crime unit is investigating the disappearance of Nirla Sharma.
Her family told police she had gone to bed wearing pink pyjamas and a pink T-shirt. Family members heard the front door chime at around 4 a.m. on Monday but Sharma, who typically arrives at her job at B.C. Hydro in Vancouver at around 6:30 a.m., didn’t make it into work and hasn’t been heard from since.
The New West police major-crime unit is investigating the disappearance. Sharma, who left her keys, wallet, and cellphone at home, is being treated as a high-risk missing person.
“We are very concerned for Mrs. Sharma because she has not shown up for work, and there are no obvious reasons why she left at 4 a.m. She left without telling anyone, and did not take any of her personal belongings, which is out of character for her,” New West police Sgt. Jeff Scott said earlier this week. “We are asking for the public’s help to locate her so that we can ensure her well-being.”
Cops described her as a South Asian woman, 5-foot-4 with a slim build, weighing about 138 pounds. She has a medium complexion, short black hair and brown eyes. She has a tattoo on her left arm of an OM symbol and tattoos of a crown on her right wrist, a rose on her tailbone and a design on her left ankle.
Police said she was last seen wearing pyjamas but may be wearing a black jacket with a hood and orange Nike shoes.
Investigators are looking for dashcam footage from anyone who may have been driving in the 300-block of Lawrence Street between midnight and 6 a.m. on Monday. Anyone with information about Sharma’s whereabouts can call New West police at 604-525-5411 or call 911.
—With files from Kevin Griffin