A 46-year-old man accused of murdering hat vendor Xuan Husler was yesterday remanded to prison when he appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

The allegation is that on October 19 at Georgetown, Nigel Abrams, a clothes vendor of 310 Craig, East Bank Demerara murdered Xuan Husler.

Nigel Abrams

Xuan Husler

Abrams was not required to plead to the indictable charge of murder when it was read to him by the acting chief magistrate.

When asked by the magistrate if there was anything he wished to say apart from pleading to the offence, the accused responded, “I would just like to say that I am not guilty.”

The magistrate then reiterated to him that he was not required to enter a plea for the charge, explaining that a plea could only be entertained in the High Court. The defendant then declined to  say anything further.

In giving the facts of the case, the prosecution said that on the day in question the accused and the deceased who were sales mates had an argument which stemmed from the deceased asking the defendant for $40.

According to the prosecution, Husler approached the defendant for $40 and was told by the defendant that he did not have $40 to give him. The court was then told that the deceased was persistent in his calls for the money which caused the accused to raise a bottle in a bid to “get rid of him” [the deceased].

The police prosecutor said that after some time the deceased left and returned with a cutlass and started pointing it towards  Abrams. This, the prosecution stated, soon led to a fight between the two. During the scuffle Husler was stabbed in the buttocks with a broken bottle.

The police prosecutor concluded that after being stabbed, Husler ran to the Avenue of the Republic where he collapsed. He was later rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.    

The unrepresented Abrams was subsequently  remanded to prison and ordered to return to Court Three on November 20.