By Michel Outridge

CRIME sleuths reported on Friday that six youths, including two teenage girls, are in custody for the murder/robbery of former University of Guyana Professor Parietdeau Mars, called ‘Perry’, 75 years, who died on Thursday night after he had been beaten and bound in his 395 Bissessar Avenue, Prashad Nagar Georgetown home.One of the youths being questioned, police said, informed that he had bought a laptop and an iPod from the others who are now in custody.

Police said the youths, who are being held at the Kitty Police Station, are between the ages of 15 and 17, and they have since confessed to the murder/robbery.

The group was observed leaving the retired professor’s residence on Thursday night with suitcases in a car, and subsequently his wife returned home and found his bloodied and lifeless body in the house.

Following the murder of the retired professor, residents expressed their anger Friday when the Guyana Chronicle visited the area. A resident said: “Imagine dis man used to feed the same set of youths that killed and robbed him at his home; almost every day they used to be in his house. They didn’t have to kill him, because he was a really kind person to all.”

Several residents, still in a state of shock over the man’s gruesome murder, voiced their concerns. One man said: “Nowadays you can’t feel sorry for some people at all. Look how they murder that man in his own house. You does have to feed dem at the gate and let them go.”

The wife of the deceased, Joan, was yesterday too distraught to speak. She was being consoled by relatives and others while the police were at the residence conducting their investigations.

Police in a press release said they are conducting investigations into the circumstances surrounding the death of retired Professor Parietdeau Mars, called ‘Perry’, 75, of Bissessar Avenue, Prashad Nagar, who was found in his home at about 18:30hrs on May 12, 2016 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.

He was pronounced dead on arrival at a private hospital.

Diligent investigations by the police have so far led to the arrest of six suspects and the recovery of a sum of cash, a laptop computer, an iPod and a PlayStation.

According to relatives, Mars would often return to Guyana, his homeland, but would go overseas for a vacation; and during his stay here, he was in the habit of entertaining anyone who showed up at his house, including the very youths who are in police custody for his murder.

He was described as a very kind-hearted person who gave freely, and so people had nothing but good things to say about him, so much so that they are very upset about his brutal murder.

Mars specialised in African Studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, USA; having studied history at the University of Guyana and Carelton University in Ottawa, Canada. He went on to work at Africana Studies at Wayne State University.

He was also credited with developing an international academic exchange project between Africana Studies, the College of Urban Labor and Metropolitan Affairs (CULMA), and the University of Guyana.