Duo pleads guilty to killing Professor Mars

May 18, 2022 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

Professor Pariedeau Mars called “Perry”

Kaieteur News – Timothy Paul Chance and Andre Benjamin on Tuesday changed their pleas and admitted to killing Professor Pariedeau Mars, called Perry, in 2016.
Earlier this month, Chance and Benjamin were arraigned in the Demerara High Court, before Justice Sandil Kissoon, when they pleaded not guilty to the charge which states that on May 12, 2016, in the County of Demerara, they killed Mars in the furtherance of a robbery.
However, on Tuesday, the duo opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter. As such, their sentencing was set for June 9, 2022.
Chance and Benjamin are two of the five teens who were charged back in 2016 for the murder of the professor.
In 2019, three teens opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter, while Chance and Benjamin were remanded awaiting trial.
On July 16, 2019, Justice Singh sentenced Nikisha Dover, 19, the mastermind behind the killing, and her two co-accused, Naomi Adams, 18, and Orin McRae, 19, to 12, 10 and 12 years’ imprisonment, respectively.
Initially, the five teens were all charged jointly for the capital offence of murder when they made their first court appearance in May of 2016 and were remanded to prison.
According to police reports, Mars, 75, of Bissessar Avenue, Prashad Nagar, Greater Georgetown, was found bound and beaten in his home on the day in question by his wife. He was subsequently rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Investigations revealed that an accused who was 17 years old at the time, was known to the now dead man as she would visit his home from time to time. It was further revealed that the said accused confessed to conspiring with her boyfriend to rob the elderly man as he was home alone on the day of the incident. Her boyfriend reportedly brought along other friends to be a part of the crime.