SIX years after the murder of security guard, John Friday, who died during a robbery committed on the Lethem Post Office, his killers were, on Thursday, December 12, 2019, sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving 32 years behind bars, for the gruesome crime.

Alvin Kissoon, formerly of Caneville, Grove, East Bank Demerara, and Calvin King, formerly of Savage Street, North East La Penitence, were found guilty of the indictment which read that, on January 18, 2013, at Lethem, they murdered Christopher John Friday in the course of, or, in the furtherance of, a robbery.
The state was represented by prosecutors Abigail Gibbs and Mandel Moore while the two defendants were represented by attorneys-at-law Adrian Thompson and Lyndon Amsterdam.

The two attorneys, during a plea of mitigation, contended that their clients would be rehabilitated and be productive members of society.

State prosecutor Gibbs urged the court to send a strong message to the public to deter potential offenders and offenders of such crimes.

The two convicts, Gibbs contended, concocted a plan and travelled from Georgetown to Lethem to rob the area post office. Friday, who was a security guard at the Lethem Post office was tied up, gagged and died during the ordeal.

The prosecutor also placed weight on the nature and circumstance in which the two convicts committed the offence on John Friday, who was at the place of employment trying to make an honest living.

Kissoon and King maintained their innocence and told the court that they were not guilty of the crime.

Justice Kissoon, after considering the background of the case, while also placing weight on the nature of the charge and a life was lost, sentenced the convicts to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving 32 years behind bars.

According to reports, the two accused committed the crime at the Lethem Post Office where they torched several safes and stole $9.8M on January 18, 2013. The men tied up Friday, who was a security guard, beat him and, as a result, he died.
During the investigation, the two accused were intercepted at a police stop point with some of the money, a number of Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company (GT&T) phone cards, and two pay slips.