EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD Naomi Adams called ‘Shortee’ appeared before Justice Singh on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

The indictment read to the court states that on May 12, 2016, in the county of Demerara, Adams murdered Pariedeau Mars called ‘Perry’, in the furtherance of a robbery. She was 15 years old at the time of the incident.

According to particulars of the offence read to the court, Adams, in the company of others, entered Mars’ Lot 395 Bissessar Avenue, Prashad Nagar, home to rob him. Adams assisted in holding the man down, while others tied him up and eventually strangled him to death. A post-mortem performed on Mars had revealed that death was due to manual strangulation, compounded by multiple fractures to the head and face.

The cellular phone of the deceased was found on Adams, and she then admitted to her involvement.

Meanwhile, Justice Singh has ordered a probation report, detailing Adams’s life before the day of the incident and also during the time she was incarcerated. Justice Singh said a probation report is necessary before sentencing, since Adams was 15 years old when the crime was committed.

As such, court was adjourned until June 24, 2019 for sentencing.

Mars was a retired professor who specialised in African Studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He had also studied history at the University of Guyana and Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. Mars 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.