Duo remanded for Boxing Day murder of Durban Street businessman

Andrew Ridley and Akelow Marshall, the two men named as suspects in the shooting death of Durban Street businessman Shimron Adams, called “Shem”, have been charged with the capital offence of murder.

Also known as “Aids Man”, Ridley, who hails from Albouystown, Georgetown, and Marshall, 20, of Independence Boulevard, East La Penitence, Georgetown, were on Tuesday arraigned before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in that Georgetown Magistrate’s Court, and were not required to plead to the indictable charge which stated that they murdered 41-year-old Adams on December 26, 2022.
They have both been remanded to prison until February 2, 2023.
Adams was killed during a daring robbery committed at his business place at Durban and Chapel Streets in Lodge, Georgetown on Boxing Night. Adams, who had operated a liquor store, hailed from Macaw Drive in Kaneville on the East Bank of Demerara.

He was attacked by the two men who were reportedly wearing surgical face masks, one of whom was also armed with a handgun.
Adams’s 29-year-old lover has told the Police that on the night in question, at about 21:30h, she had gone to his business place, and at that time the businessman was wearing a gold finger ring and one gold band, and had had a small bag hanging on his shoulder.
At about 23:30h, Adams closed his business and started to pack items into a freezer. About 10 minutes later, Adams opened the shutter for them to leave from the bottom flat; and, according to the woman, in the blink of an eye, the two men entered the building and ordered them to lie on the ground, and they complied.
She said the unarmed suspect then took off the businessman’s gold band and finger ring, and ordered him to get up, which he did. The suspect then held onto the businessman’s shoulder bag and pulled at it, but Adams continued to hold onto the bag.

The suspect who was armed then discharged a round at Adams, and it struck him in his right abdomen. He fell to the ground and remained unconscious, and was subsequently rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), where he was pronounced dead. After processing the crime scene, Police recovered a 9mm spent shell and one warhead.
Following the killing, Adams’s lover and another woman were arrested by the Police. The lover later confessed to having knowledge of the crime. In fact, she reportedly told investigators that her boyfriend Ridley and another man had committed the act.
The woman reportedly told investigators that her boyfriend had found out that she and the businessman had been involved in a relationship, and he had threatened to rob and kill the businessman, something she had pleaded with him not to do. She said she recognised the suspects on the night in question when they barged into the business place.
Ridley was arrested hours after the killing, while Marshall was nabbed a few days later in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) after Police received information that he was attempting to flee to Suriname.
Ridley is no stranger to the law, since he had previously been charged with a spate of robbery-under-arms and break-and-enter-and-larceny charges. At the time of his arrest for Adams’s murder, he was wanted for the November 2022 murder of 53-year-old Dexter McFarlene, who was killed by a stray bullet while making his way home in the community of Laing Avenue, West Ruimveldt, Georgetown.