Cuban national Joel Rodriguez, the suspect in the murders of Princes Street resident Tara Krishnaran and her 11-year-old daughter Larissa Singh, had exhibited a jealous streak that prompted a warning by a relative of the victims.
The Guyana Police Force said autopsies were conducted yesterday on the bodies of Krishnaran, 34, also known as ‘Vannie’ and Singh, both of Lot 14 ‘B’ Princes Street, Lodge, by pathologist, Dr. Nehaul Singh. Krishnaran’s cause of death was determined to be due to blunt trauma to the head, while it was found that the child died as a result of an incised wound to the neck and blunt trauma to the head.
Rodriguez, also known as Yoel Rodriguez Barientos, was arrested at Amelia’s Ward, in Linden, on Sunday night, about a day after the bodies of the mother and her daughter were made.
Stabroek News yesterday spoke with an immediate relative of the victims, who has asked not to be named.
The relative said that the suspect moved in with Krishnaran at the mentioned address ten months ago but they had been in a relationship for more than a year. Asked whether the suspect would physically abuse the deceased, the relative said the family did not know of any such incidents and only knew that they had arguments from time to time as Rodriguez was said to be a jealous individual. The man’s jealous nature, the relative said, was pointed out to the deceased and she was warned to be cautious.
“According to what we learn, is that the two of them were working at a Chinese store on Regent Street, which is how they meet. He became close with the family. He and she would always attend family functions. We… talked to her about him being too overly jealous. We talked to him also about that and he understands though he doesn’t speak proper English,” the relative explained. “On Christmas Day she make plans to go visit a brother in Kitty. The brother called to invite them to come over by him and she was planning on all of them going but when the boyfriend heard that she was going to go, he got angry. He and this same brother from Kitty was good for a time but then I don’t know what happen after. Her father said that she said everybody was invited and that everybody was going to go but then they had a problem and she came back inside and told him (Krishnaran’s father) that they were not going [anymore],” said the relative. The relative also spoke of Krishnaran’s father, who found the bodies. The 67-year-old man was described as feeble. “He doesn’t move around a lot so he would often need help to move from one part to the next. Since the incident, he is still in a shock and closed off from everybody and is not talking much,” said the relative.
It was further said by the relative that Rodriguez told them that he was once married in Cuba and shared a daughter with his ex-spouse but that they had separated before he came to Guyana.
“We have no remorse for him. We are very much hurt and angry and we want justice. We will leave him in the hands of the law and hope that the law will deal with him. Now that the post mortem finish, we are making plans for burial,” said the relative.
The murders are believed to have occurred between 8pm on December 25, 2020 and 9pm on Saturday, December 26.
The police said that enquiries with the father of Tara revealed that the suspect and Tara had an argument at about 5.30 pm on December 25 and a fight ensued between the couple.
The father retired to bed as he noted that the couple would fight routinely. At about 8 am on December 26, the father woke up and did not check on the victims, having thought that Tara had gone to work and had taken her child as is customary.
At about 8.30 pm on Saturday, the father, after realising that he was locked inside, made checks in the room of the victims and discovered his daughter and granddaughter lying motionless on a bed and the ground, respectively.
