Cuban wanted for Princes St double murder nabbed in Linden

Hours after a bulletin was issued for the arrest of Cuban national Yoel Rodriguez Barientos aka “Joel Rodriguez” in connection with the murder of his partner and her daughter, Police were successful in apprehending him in Amelia’s Ward, Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).

According to Police information, the 27-year-old labourer was arrested on Sunday evening and is in custody at the Mackenzie Police Station. Police believe that he might have been heading to Lethem with the intention of crossing the border to Brazil.
Barientos went missing after he allegedly murdered his 34-year-old Guyanese partner, Tara Krishnaran, and her 11-year-old daughter, Larissa Singh sometime between Christmas Day and Boxing Day evening, at their Princes Street, Lodge, Georgetown home.
Their bodies were discovered about 21:00h on Boxing Day.
Based on initial reports received, the father of the dead woman told Police that the suspect and his daughter were heard arguing about 17:30h on December 25. This was followed by a scuffle between them. However, the man did not take it seriously since the couple would normally fight and as such, he retired to bed.
About 08:00h on December 26, the father woke up, but did not check on his daughter and granddaughter, since he thought that she had gone to work and taken her daughter with her.

At approximately 20:30h, the man went to his daughter’s room to check on them, but it was then he made the gruesome discovery: his daughter and granddaughter were lying motionless on a bed and ground, respectively.
Wounds were discovered at the back of the woman’s head, left temple and left side of the face while the child sustained a stab wound to her neck. It is suspected that she was also raped. A blood-stained hammer and a knife were retrieved from the scene.
At the home of the dead woman on Sunday, her brother, Amar Krishnaran narrated what he was told happened to his sister and niece.
“Normally when they go to work, they does make he [our father’s] food and put it on the table…he didn’t see the food on the table and didn’t know what happened…as the time was going by during the day, he didn’t see the little girl coming out to feed the puppy…,” he said.
Amar said his father waited for hours for his daughter and he did not see her or the child come in, so he decided to go to the room to check.
“He went and pull the blind and he saw my niece lying on the ground right there… she was motionless and the room was dark so whatever glimpse he saw of the mother on the bed, that was it… so he took his foot and touched her [the child’s] hand and there were no movements,” the tearful man said. It was then the 69-year-old man realised that something was amiss.

He tried to make his way to the door to get help, and realised that the doors were locked from the outside and the keys were missing. He then managed to get his phone and called relatives to the scene.
Guyana Times understands that Krishnaran and Barientos had been living together for about 10 months, and had been dating for just over a year. They had worked at the same establishment in Georgetown.