Labourer admits to killing Sir Mars

Brian Richards pled guilty to murder before Justice Joy Persaud-Singh at the Georgetown High Court on Monday, admitting to the 2023 killing of entertainer and educator Kirwyn Mars, popularly known as “Sir Mars”.

Richards, a 24-year-old labourer, entered the guilty plea during High Court proceedings in a case prosecuted by State attorneys Padma Dubraj, Nelissa Peterkin, and Aliyah Heywood. He is being represented by defence attorney Ronald Bostwick.
Sentencing for Richards will be on June 2.
The plea brings closure to the trial phase of a case that had earlier been committed to the High Court following a preliminary inquiry at the Diamond/Grove Magistrate’s Court. Magistrate Sunil Scarce had ruled that sufficient evidence existed for Richards to stand trial at the Demerara Assizes.
Mars, a well-known entertainer and high school teacher, was killed on May 7, 2023, at Plantation Providence, East Bank Demerara (EBD). His body was discovered pinned between his vehicle and a concrete fence. A post-mortem examination revealed that he sustained eight stab wounds to multiple areas of his body, including the chest, collarbone, shoulder, elbow, and hand. The cause of death was certified as crushing injuries to the chest, compounded by multiple sharp-force injuries.
Police had arrested Richards two days after the incident at his workplace in Georgetown. Investigators relied on surveillance footage, which captured Richards and Mars leaving a bar together hours before the fatal encounter.
The prosecution’s case included an alleged confession in which Richards admitted to stabbing Mars multiple times during an altercation inside the victim’s vehicle. It was alleged that the confrontation began after the two men left Green City Bar, where they had been consuming alcohol.
According to that account, Richards claimed Mars initially attacked him with a knife, prompting him to disarm him and retaliate. The statement further alleged that after Mars exited the vehicle near Providence, Richards inadvertently shifted the vehicle into reverse while searching for his phone, causing Mars to be pinned against a fence.
However, Richards’ family had previously rejected the police version of events. His wife maintained that he was at home at the time of the incident, stating that Mars had dropped him off earlier that evening and that he remained with her from around 21:00h.