STRANGLED

In a brief interview, Alexandrov told Newsday “out of an abundance of caution”, he also sent tissue samples for a toxicology test to find out if poison was involved.

Next month, Keanna and Omari would have been three years and one-year-old respectively. They were killed by their father Barry Karamath, 33, who then committed suicide by drinking weedicide on Saturday night into Sunday morning.

The bodies of the three were found in a bamboo patch at Mora Trace, Matura in Toco by pumpkin farmer Luke Hamiliton. The bodies were found on a pink blanket with a gallon bottle of “All Grass” weedicide nearby.

During the night, Karamath sent seven text messages to the children’s mother Okilia Mayers, detailing his plan to commit murder. At the Forensic Science Centre yesterday, Latricia Alsuran, Mayers’ cousin, said she was with her cousin when Karamath sent the text messages, as he was contacting Mayers through her cellphone. She claimed they too called and sent text messages to him, arguing and telling him to return the children. “Every time he called, he said, ‘You listening to what I telling you?’ and she (Mayers) would say, ‘Yeah, I listening’ and he would be beating them (the children) in the background. They were screaming out and after that, like about 10.30 pm, minutes to 11, he text us and tell us he now killed the baby,” Alsuran recalled.

Alsuran said they did not believe Karamath was serious when he threatened the lives of his children as he had threatened to kill himself on pervious occasions when he and Mayers had disagreements. “He accustomed doing them thing so we say probably he just joking. We didn’t know he was serious,” she said.

Asked what could have driven him to kill his children, Alsuran replied “evilness”. Alsuran said when Mayers was at his side he was a loving father but when they broke up, he did not care about them. She also claimed he never provided for the children.

However, a neighbour and friend of Karamath, who wished to be known only as Hycinette, told Newsday otherwise. Hycinette described Karamath as a calm, quiet, jolly, helpful man who was frustrated by Mayers’ lifestyle. “She is always partying with her family and leaving the children with him. He tried to make a family. He rented an apartment and they lived together as a family, but she was just not settling down,” she said.

In addition to partying, Hycinette claimed Mayers would wear revealing clothes, which Karamath did not appreciate. She told Newsday the trouble began when Mayers recently moved out of the couple’s Barataria apartment and entered into a relationship with her former lover, with whom she has a five-year-old child.

According to Hycinette, when Mayers left him, Karamath would take care of his children most of the time. Therefore, she believed when he decided to kill himself, he decided that he did not want another man to take care of his children.

“I don’t condone what he did because that broke my heart. He could have talked to someone and vented his feelings. Not everybody is strong and could take that. Sometimes when you don’t have someone to pull you out of a dark place, the dark thoughts become a reality. But he was not an evil man and he was not crazy. He was trapped and frustrated,” she said sadly.