Latest update April 20th, 2024 12:59 AM
Sep 05, 2021 News
By Renay Sambach
Kaieteur News – Domestic Violence (DV) is quite prevalent in society. These types of cases are very sensitive and when such matters are before the court, media personnel are not allowed to report on them.
However, when a DV matter is deadly, it can be reported on. For example, in this edition of The Court Journal, I will look at some of the court matters where men were charged for murdering their significant other.
Last year, Orrin King, was charged for allegedly chopping his ex-wife to death.
According to reports, on March 27, 2021, Natoya Speede, 37, a resident of Lot 34 Sixth Avenue, Bartica, was murdered in front of her children at Five Miles, Bartica-Potaro Road.
The incident occurred at around 19:30hrs. at the Bartica Airstrip. The police had reported that King took Speede and their two children to
the airstrip under the pretext that they were going for a photo shoot.
However, while there, he allegedly attacked Speede and inflicted several wounds about her body with an axe. It was reported by the police that the couple had been experiencing domestic issues for a few months.
After reportedly committing the act, King fled the scene and attempted to take his own life.
However, after hours of searching, relatives and the police were able to locate King about half a mile away from where the incident occurred – his body bore multiple wounds, which he reportedly told investigators, were self-inflicted.
The man was taken to the Bartica Hospital where he was admitted under police guard and was subsequently discharged and charged.
Moreover, it was reported that Speede was a victim of domestic violence. This caused the woman to end her years-long marriage with King several months before she was brutally killed. She had later moved to live with her sister but King kept in contact with her.
King was charged and placed before Magistrate, Crystal Lambert, in the Bartica Magistrate’s Court. He was not required to plead to the indictable charge of murder and he was remanded to prison.
Late last year, a 32-year-old cane harvester was remanded for allegedly stabbing his wife, Amrita Rahim, to death at their Rosignol, West Bank Berbice home.
The accused, Taijam Rahim, had made his first court appearance at the Blairmont Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate, Peter Hugh.
Rahim also called ‘Sunny,’ of Lot 7 Marcy Dam, Rosignol, was not required to plea to the indictable charge, which was read to him. It was alleged that the cane harvester fatally stabbed 28-year-old Amrita.
The murder accused and Amrita had been married for several years during which their union yielded three children.
According to reports, the crime was witnessed by one of the couple’s children who told investigators that his parents were out at a birthday party, which was held in the said yard where they were consuming alcohol.
After the parents returned home, the child said he heard them arguing. Thereafter, Rahim went to the kitchen, returned with a knife, and stabbed Amrita to the chest while she was lying on the bed.
Rahim then went to the Blairmont Police Station where he found the gate locked and went back home and asked his brother to call the police. He was later arrested by police at his home and reportedly provided investigators with vital information for the court proceedings.
One month after Amrita was allegedly killed by her husband, a Cuban National reportedly murdered his Guyanese girlfriend and her 11-year-old daughter.
Yoel Rodríguez Barrientos, 27, a salesman of Princes Street, Lodge and Santiago, Cuba, had reportedly confessed to the double murder.
He was slapped with two counts of murder at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. He appeared before Chief Magistrate, Ann McLennan, and was not required to plea
to the indictable charge.
It was alleged that on December 25, 2020, he heinously killed Tara Krishnaran, 34, and her daughter Larissa Singh, 11, at their Princes Street, Lodge, Georgetown home.
The way in which Barrientos allegedly killed Krishnaran and her daughter, caused much anger, among not only Guyanese, but also the Cuban community living in Guyana. His fellow nationals had labelled him a psychopath and demanded that he face the full brunt of the law for his actions.
According to reports, Barrientos confessed to hammering Krishnaran to death and slitting her daughter’s throat on Christmas night. He reportedly told police that he got into a physical fight with Krishnaran that night. He claimed that she attacked him first, which led to him bludgeoning her to death with a hammer.
Looking on in horror was her daughter. Barrientos further alleged that he attacked her too because he feared that she would testify against him. Blood was also found on Singh’s vagina suggesting that she was probably raped on the night of her murder. Police, however, had said the autopsy conducted could not determine whether she was raped or not. However, after committing the act, Barrientos reportedly locked his sleeping father-in-law, Yomona Krishnaran, 67, in the house and escaped. Fast action by police led to him being captured on December 27, 2020, in Linden, Region 10. It is believed that he was heading to Lethem, Region Nine, on his way to Brazil.
Then on May 2, 2021, at D’Urban Street, Georgetown, a woman was stabbed to death, reportedly by her boyfriend.
Nichola Wilson, 44, was killed when her boyfriend, Lawrence Brummel, turned up at her Lot 57 D’Urban Street, Lodge home and reportedly accused her of infidelity.
It was reported that neighbours reported that a quarrel broke out and Brummel attacked the woman.
Wilson’s 14-year-old son, who was sitting outside of the home at the time, was alerted by his mother’s screams and reportedly saw the man over his mom with a knife. He
sought to physically intervene to prevent the attack but Lawrence attacked him too and he ran to get help, at which point the man, said to be in his mid-40s, continued his attack on Wilson, stabbing her to the face and about the body.
By the time the teen could bring neighbours to assist, Lawrence ran, entered his car and drove off.
Brummel was later discovered in an unconscious state at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). According to police sources, he had turned up at the hospital sometime after allegedly killing Wilson and told the staff that he had ingested a poisonous substance.
However, the man never got to face the murder charge due to the fact that he succumbed while receiving treatment.
Similarly, on August 12, 2017, residents of Cumberland Village, East Canje, Berbice, were awakened to the shocking news of the murder of their fellow villager and popular businesswoman, Rhonda Blair.
The 42-year-old retired teacher and mother of two, was stabbed to death by her 47-year-old husband, Rudolph Blair called ‘Rudy,’ who, after committing the act, ran to the back of a neighbour’s yard and shot himself. He was said to have also ingested a poisonous substance after fatally stabbing his wife.
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
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