The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) yesterday advised that five of the six suspects who were arrested in connection with the killing of Professor Perry Mars, be charged with murder.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum yesterday afternoon confirmed that the five suspects, who are between the ages of 15 and 18 years old, will be charged today.
They are scheduled to appear in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
According to Blanhum the sixth suspect, who was arrested after it was suspected that he collected the stolen items, was released as there was insufficient evidence to link him to the crime. This was after one of the other suspects reportedly admitted leaving stolen items at the sixth suspect’s house after the crime was committed.
Mars, 75, of 365 Bissessar Avenue, Prashad Nagar, was found in his home around 6.30pm last Thursday with his hands and feet duct taped and injuries to his head. The house was ransacked and a number of articles and cash were missing.
Stabroek News was told that the discovery was made by Mars’s wife on her return home from Linden.
He was rushed to St Joseph Mercy Hospital, where he died while receiving medical attention.
The suspects were arrested at their individual homes, all addresses in Georgetown, hours after Mars was found dead and they provided investigators with statements, detailing their involvement in the crime.
Stabroek News was reliably informed that one of the female suspects, who is 17 years old, was known to have frequented Mars’s residence and she allegedly let the others into the house.
At one point in time, she used to live next door to Mars and one of the male suspects is reported to be her boyfriend.
This newspaper understood that the female suspect informed her boyfriend that she was going to Mars’s house and that he would be at home alone. The boyfriend allegedly told her that it was a good opportunity to rob Mars.
The boyfriend then contacted his friends and they met at a house in ‘C’ Field, Sophia where they reportedly hatched the plan, before walking over to Mars’s house.
The female suspect was reportedly the first to enter the house and she allegedly assaulted Mars, injuring him about the body. At this point, the other suspects, who were waiting outside the premises, entered and duct taped Mars.
They then reportedly joined in continuously beating him, while they ransacked the house and carted off a quantity of items. The six suspects then went to the health centre in ‘C’ Field, Sophia where they split the loot.
Among the items recovered by the police are a sum of cash, a laptop computer, an iPhone and a PlayStation, the police had said in a statement.
