THREE of the four men who were convicted and sentenced to 81 years imprisonment for the gruesome murder of 72-year-old, Clementine Fiedtkou-Parris, on Tuesday, had their sentence reduced to 50 years by the Guyana Court of Appeal.

Orwin Hinds of Mocha, East Bank Demerara (EBD); Kevin October of Agricola EBD; Cleon Hinds; and Roy Jacobs of Evans Street, Charlestown, Georgetown were jointly charged for the crime. Following a jury trial in November 2015, at the Demerara High Court, they were found guilty.
The presiding judge, Justice Navindra Singh, later imposed the 81-year sentence on each of them.

Through their attorneys, the men moved to the Appeal Court claiming that the trial was unfair, the judge erred in law, and that the sentence was unduly severe. They had also argued that the trial judge admitted evidence that was prejudicial to a fair trial.

In 2021, October died in prison while the appeal was being heard.

Chancellor (ag), Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justices Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud presided over the case.
On Tuesday, the Chancellor affirmed the men’s conviction and ruled that the trial judge did not err in law in this respect.
However, the court found that the sentence was excessive and as such, reduced it to 50 years.

Orwin Hinds was represented by attorney, George Thomas, while Cleon Hinds was represented by Adrian Thompson. Roy Jacobs was represented by attorney, Dexter Todd.

The four men were convicted for the role they played in the woman’s murder. They were part of an arrangement whereby $2 million was to be passed from one person to another following the murder.

On the evening of June 30, 2011, two men went to Fiedtkou-Parris’ Robb Street, Georgetown house, and asked for ‘Auntie’, a title by which she was called.

They were directed up a sidestep and as the elderly woman emerged from her bedroom, one of the men pulled out a gun and shot her several times to the upper part of her body.

The men then escaped into a waiting car while the injured woman was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where she was pronounced dead on arrival.