-reserves date for ruling on sentencing

THE Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), on Tuesday, upheld the convictions of two men who were tried for the 2011 murder of 72-year-old Clementine Fiedtkou-Parris.

In 2015, Orwin and Cleon Hinds of Mocha, East Bank Demerara (EBD); Kevin October of Agricola, EBD, and Roy Jacobs of Evans Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, were sentenced to 81 years in prison by Justice Navindra Singh after a jury found them guilty of the crime.

The men subsequently filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal challenging their conviction and sentences. In 2021, October died in prison while the appeal was being heard.

Four months later, the Court of Appeal upheld the men’s conviction but reduced their sentences to 50 years.

Dissatisfied with the decision of the appeal tribunal, Orwin and Cleon filed an appeal to the Trinidad-based court, which is Guyana’s final appellate court, to overturn the CoA’s decision.

Jacobs did not file an appeal.

The matter is being heard by the President of the CCJ, Justice Adrian Saunders, along with Justice Jacob Wit, Justice Maureen Rajnauth-Lee, Justice Denys Barrow, and Justice Andrew Burgess.

After hearing arguments from the men’s attorney, Arud Gossai, the CCJ judges denied the appeal and reserved a date for ruling on the grounds of sentencing.

The Guyana Chronicle had reported that the four men murdered Fiedtkou-Parris pursuant to an arrangement, whereby money was to be passed from one person to another.

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

They were directed up a sidestep and as Fiedtkou-Parris 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 entered a waiting car and fled the scene. The injured woman was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where she was pronounced dead on arrival.