– police hunting alleged killer

POLICE are on the hunt for a man who allegedly beat his reputed wife to death with a hammer and slashed her 11-year-old daughter’s throat with a knife. Their bloodied bodies were discovered on Saturday night at their Princes Street, Lodge, Georgetown residence by the woman’s father who also resides there. Dead are Tara Krishnaran, 34, who was a salesgirl, and Larissa Singh, 11. Police Headquarters, in a statement, noted that the murders occurred sometime between 20:00hrs on December 25th (Christmas Day) and 21:00hrs on December 26th (Boxing Day). After receiving the report of the murders on Saturday night, investigators visited the scene and discovered the mother and daughter in a bedroom.

The police said that the woman was discovered with a wound to the back of the head, left side temple and left side of the face. Her daughter, however, had a wound, about six inches in length, to her neck and what appeared to be blood on her private parts. The suspected murder weapons – a blood stained hammer and knife – were also retrieved. The bodies were taken to the Lyken’s Funeral Home, awaiting post-mortem. Detectives are making efforts to arrest the alleged killer – a man for whom the woman worked and who is a Cuban national.

According to the police report, the woman’s father said that the couple had an argument on Christmas Day and since such arguments were common, he went to bed. On Boxing day, he did not check on them as he thought the woman went to work and took her daughter along with her. Later that night, however, the elderly man realised that he was locked inside the house and went into the room of the victims when he made the gruesome discovery; his granddaughter was lying on the ground and his daughter was lying on the bed.

On Sunday, when the Guyana Chronicle visited the scene, the frail father was still in a state of shock. A relative of the deceased woman and child, who wished to remain anonymous, explained that the elderly man has difficulties moving around and is usually confined to his chair all day. But, after realising that he had not heard from his daughter nor granddaughter all day, he became worried, so he checked to see if they were resting. After pulling the curtain hanging over their bedroom’s door, he first saw the grand-daughter lying on the floor. After he nudged her and she was unresponsive, he hurriedly phoned other relatives. He also told them to come with tools to break open the locks.

The Guyana Chronicle understands that the woman, her daughter and the alleged killer lived in the house, which belongs to the woman’ father, for about eight months. The woman met the Cuban national at the store where she worked and they were in a relationship for more than a year. Reports indicate that the man would accompany Krishnaran to family functions but relatives noted that he appeared to be a jealous individual. “We would be together (at a family function) and a boy could walk in, even if it was my brothers… if they just looked at her, he would get angry about it,” the relative said. Police investigations into the double murder are ongoing.