Three teenagers, including the mastermind who confessed to killing 75-year-old Professor Pairadeau ‘Perry’ Mars, were moments ago sentenced to 12 and 10 years in prison.
The mastermind, Nikisha Dover, 17, and her two co-accused, Naomi Adams, 18, and Orin McRae, 19, appeared before Justice Navindra Singh this morning at the Demerara High Court.
About a month ago, the trio, who was initially indicted for murder, opted to plead guilty to the lesser count manslaughter, admitting that on May 12, 2016, they unlawfully killed Mars. Mars was found dead in his Lot 395 Bissessar Street, Prashad Nagar, Georgetown home.
For his part, Justice Singh sentenced Dover to 12 years’ imprisonment. McRae was handed a 12 years’ prison term, while Adams was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.
The killers expressed that they were deeply sorry for their actions. In Adams’ case, she cried uncontrollably and said that she knew how it felt to lose a loved one since her mother passed away when she was just 12.
Meanwhile, Dover said that her actions were wrong and begged for forgiveness. McRae rendered an apology to the dead man’s family. They promised to make better of their lives when they are released from prison.
Added to that, the killers promised to enrol in the CSEC programme offered by the prisons since all of them dropped out of high school.
A probation report revealed that at 17, Dover was involved in a common-law relationship and had moved out of her mother’s home. As for McRae, a probation report said that he was known for being in fights and gangs.
It was further revealed in the probation report that he stabbed one of his male co-accused during their appearance at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. It is believed that he was the one who strangled Mars with a plastic bag.
For sentencing, Justice Singh considered that they were all teenagers at the time of the killing. The judge said, “This is a very sad case. Here I have in front of me three persons who are still children. It is disturbing to me how they got into this situation.”
Nevertheless, Justice Singh noted that “children have to be punished.”
The Judge ordered that the time they spent in prison pending trial is to be deducted from the sentence. He urged them to pursue their education during their time in jail.
It is the prosecution’s case that Dover, McRae, Adams and others went into Mars’ home and held him down while others choked him to death. The elderly man’s home was also robbed. His cause of death was given as manual asphyxiation compounded by blunt trauma.
Mars studied History at the University of Guyana. He had specialised in African Studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, USA.
Prosecutors Tuanna Hardy, Teriq Mohamed, and Sarah Martin appeared for the State while attorneys-at-law Mohamed Ali and Adrian Thompson appeared for Dover and McRae, respectively.
