Cuban receives life sentence in Guyana for murdering his partner and an 11-year-old girl on Christmas 2020

Yoel Rodríguez Barrientos, a 32-year-old Cuban citizen, was sentenced to life imprisonment in Guyana for the murder of his partner Tara Krishnaran and her daughter, Larissa Singh, 11 years old. The double crime occurred on December 25, 2020 at the family home on Princess Street, Lodge, Georgetown. The sentence was handed down on July 9, 2026 in the Demerara High Court before Judge Nicola Pierre, according to Guyanese and Cuban media that reported the ruling, including Ignite News and La Tijera News.

What happened on December 25, 2020

According to the judicial reconstruction cited by Ignite News and CiberCuba, Rodríguez Barrientos and Krishnaran They were having an argument that escalated into physical aggression. The convict took a hammer and repeatedly hit Krishnaran on the head, causing fatal injuries and severe facial disfigurement.

Minutes later, Larissa Singh entered the room and found her mother's body. According to the accusation, Rodríguez Barrientos attacked the minor with a knife—he cut her neck—and also hit her with the hammer. The Guyana police maintained from the beginning that he killed the girl to prevent her from testifying against him; The man, originally from Santiago de Cuba, was fleeing as the stepfather of the minor in the family home.

The ruling of July 9, 2026

Rodríguez Barrientos appeared before Judge Nicola Pierre at the Demerara High Court and pleaded guilty to both murders. The judge imposed:

• Life sentence with the possibility of requesting parole after 35 years for the murder of Tara Krishnaran.
• Life sentence with the possibility of requesting parole after 40 years for the murder of Larissa Singh.

The sentences will be served simultaneously (concurrently) and the time already spent in pretrial detention will be deducted. In addition, he must participate in anger management programs during his confinement, according to the media report that followed the hearing.

In the courtroom, with relatives of the victims present, the judge stressed that Rodríguez Barrientos betrayed a relationship of trust: he lived with the girl as a father figure and had the duty to protect her, not to take her life. Krishnaran, he added, was murdered not by a stranger on the street, but by someone from her own home — an argument that fits with the reading of gender violence and abuse of family trust.

Detention and coverage in Cuban media

After the murders, Rodríguez Barrientos fled and the Guyana Police Force issued a wanted poster. Hours later he was arrested in Amelia's Ward, Linden (Region 10) thanks to information received the same day, according to Ignite News.

The case circulated again this July 13, 2026 in networks and media of the Cuban diaspora. The account La Tijera News in X summarized the sentence and cited a previous publication by El mundo de Darwin; Spanish versions as CiberCuba and CubaHeadlines expanded the details from the Guyanese press.

In summary

Who? Yoel Rodríguez Barrientos, 32-year-old Cuban. What? Murder of his partner Tara Krishnaran (34) and Larissa Singh (11). When? December 25, 2020 in Georgetown. What a shame? Two concurrent life sentences, with possible parole after 35 and 40 years. Where was it issued? Demerara High Court, July 9, 2026.