Kirwyn Mars’s murder: Suspect confesses to rejecting advances – Police invite media to view video statement

…wife’s statement reveals her calls were declined by husband
…tells Police husband, Mars met at “dance group”

In his detailed confession to the murder of popular comedian and educator Kirwyn Mars, suspect Brian Richards recounted that their evening together turned deadly sometime after the deceased allegedly made advances towards him.

On Saturday, this publication viewed segments of the confession, where 24-year-old Richards led Police to the various locations he visited with Mars before the incident.
Video footage showed the duo leaving Green City Bar together after 19:00h. The suspect said while in the vicinity of his residence at John Fernandes Squatting Area, he asked Mars to let him out.
However, the latter indicated that he was heading up the East Bank of Demerara (EBD) and continued driving. Richards alleged that it was at this point the victim made advances to him – to which he declined, adding that this behaviour persisted.
While on the EBD, the man told Police that he was carried through a ‘dark street’, where Mars allegedly put a knife to his neck and suggested that they be ‘more than friends’. However, the suspect said he responded, “I’m not into that”.
In the midst of the journey, he managed to disarm the comedian and dealt him a few injuries about the body, also striking him with a beer bottle to the head.
“I took the glass bottle and lash he to he head,” Richards is heard saying in the confession tape.
His recount of the incident wrapped up with Mars exiting the car to the rear end of the vehicle. While in the process of collecting his phone, Richards said he touched something and the car reversed, pinning Mars to the fence. He claimed he does not know how to drive.

The man confided in Police that he did not tell anyone about the murder, nor did he lend assistance to the victim.
Fifty-one-year-old Mars, who is popularly known as “Sir Mars” was found pinned under his car at Plantation Providence, EBD. An autopsy showed that he had eight stab wounds as well as crush injuries to the chest. According to Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh, the cause of death was “crush injuries to the chest compounded by multiple cutaneous wounds.”

Contradiction
On Friday, the murder accused, a labourer of John Fernandes Squatting Area, Georgetown, appeared before Magistrate Sunil Scarce for the capital offence.
He was not required to plead to the indictable charge which alleged that on May 7, in the Georgetown Magisterial District, he murdered Mars, 51, of Lot 211 New Settlers Street, Mocha, East Bank Demerara (EBD).
There, his wife told the media that he is innocent, saying that he was at home at the time of the murder. However, these recent utterances have contradicted her statement to the Criminal Investigation Department. Like the video recording, her statement too was shown to the media.
Claiming that he was home at 21:00h the night of the murder, her signed a statement reflected that this was not the case. In fact, the woman initially told Police that she reached out to her husband at 22:00h that evening. The call she made, according to phone records, was declined by Richards.
The woman further stated in her statement that when she heard about the murder, it was about 23:34h and her husband was at home. However, she told investigators that she did not know at what time he arrived.
Meanwhile, another factor is not adding up. While she claimed that she did not know how the two knew each other, her statement to the Police also indicated otherwise. The statement detailed that since March 2023, she knew Mars to be a friend of her husband and that they met at a dance group.
Richards, who was represented by Attorney-at-Law Bernard DaSilva, was remanded to prison until June 23. The preliminary inquiry (PI) into the matter will commence on August 7.