Ojha charged a decade later with murdering sex worker
September 21 2026
A decade after the fatal shooting of Nephi Noel, Kanand Ojha has been charged with murder and remanded to prison.
Ojha was arrested by ranks of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters on Friday, September 18, 2026, three days after he was deported to Guyana from the United States.
He appeared on Monday, September 21, before Chief Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, where the murder charge was read to him. He was not required to enter a plea and was subsequently remanded to prison. The matter was adjourned to October 12, 2026.
Noel, a sex worker, was shot once to the chest at about 2:35 a.m. on July 22, 2015, during a confrontation at the corner of Carmichael and Quamina Streets, Georgetown. He was later pronounced dead at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
According to police allegations at the time, the incident stemmed from a dispute involving a client who had returned to the area with Ojha.
Ojha remained wanted in Guyana for years, with a wanted bulletin issued in July 2019. He was eventually arrested in Queens, New York, in September 2025 by the New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force, comprising US Marshals and other US law enforcement agencies.
He was deported to Guyana on September 18, 2026, following coordination between Guyanese and US law enforcement authorities, and was arrested by local investigators shortly after his arrival.
Another man linked to Noel’s killing, Ron “Andel” Forde, previously pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2017.
