ONE week after pleading not guilty to the 2016 murder of 75-year-old retired professor, Pairadeau `Perry’ Mars, Paul Chance and Andre Benjamin, have decided to change their plea.

Chance, 23, and Benjamin, 22, were on trial before Justice Sandil Kissoon and a 12-member jury at the Demerara High Court.

On Monday, May 9, 2022, the duo denied that they murdered the former University of Guyana professor on May 12, 2016, at his Bissessar Street, Prashad Nagar home, during the course of a robbery.

However, on Tuesday, May 17, the men opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter. Justice Kissoon directed the jury to return a guilty verdict for manslaughter.

The judge ordered that probation reports and psychological evaluations be prepared for both Chance and Benjamin.

He then adjourned the matter until June 9, 2022, for the presentation of the reports and sentencing.

The state is being represented by prosecutor Abigail Gibbs, while Ronald Daniels and Kiswana Jefford are the attorneys for the duo.

In 2019, the duo’s co-accused Nikisha Dover, Orin McRae, and Naomi Adams were arraigned before High Court Judge, Navindra Singh, for the capital offence of murder.

However, they opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter. Dover and McRae were each sentenced to 12 years in jail and Adams was sentenced to 10 years in jail.

Mars was killed by a gang of teens, who beat and bound him in his house. At the time, the teens were between the ages of 15 and 18 and reportedly confessed to the murder/robbery, while in police custody.

On the day in question, at about 18:30 hours, the professor was found in his house by his wife with his hands and feet duct-taped and with 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.

According to reports, the teens were known to Professor Mars. They were arrested after neighbours allegedly observed the group leaving the retired professor’s residence with suitcases and entering a car. Subsequently, his wife returned home and found his bloodied and lifeless body in the house.

Less than 24 hours later, the police arrested the suspects and recovered a sum of cash, a laptop computer, an iPod and a PlayStation that were taken from Mars’ house.

Mars specialised in African Studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, USA, having studied history at the University of Guyana and Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

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

A post-mortem performed on Mars had revealed that death was due to manual strangulation, compounded by multiple fractures to the head and face.