Miner challenges 28-year jail sentence for 2014 Plaisance bus driver’s killing

Thirty-five-year-old Orin Jerrick of Anns Grove, East Coast Demerara (ECD), who was sentenced to a 28-year jail term in 2016 after he was found guilty of unlawfully killing a minibus driver, has now moved to the Court of Appeal (COA) to challenge the High Court ruling.

Jerrick was on February 8, 2016, given the sentence by Justice Navindra Singh after the jury returned a guilty verdict in an 11 to 1 proportion in favour of the lesser count of manslaughter.
Jerrick, in his appeal, is asking the COA to set aside his conviction and sentence. He has proffered several grounds for his request, with most of them being that the trial Judge made several errors in law, which made his conviction unlawful.
It was always the prosecution’s case that on July 31, 2014, Jerrick fatally stabbed Fiffee at the Plaisance minibus Park, Georgetown.
It was reported that on the day in question, Fiffee was loading his minibus at Plaisance when the accused began urinating on the wheel. As a result, the now dead man confronted the suspect and an argument ensued during which Jerrick whipped out a knife and stabbed the man to the upper right chest.
An injured Fiffee was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) by public-spirited citizens but succumbed to his injuries while receiving medical attention.
A few days later, Jerrick turned himself in to the police and was charged for murder. During the Preliminary Inquiry (PI) at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, there was enough evidence for a committal.

In the High Court, eight witnesses testified in favour of the State. The State was represented by Narissa Leander and Michael Shahoud and the accused was represented by Defence Counsels Nigel Hughes and Peter Hugh.
Following the jury’s verdict, Jerrick maintained his innocence by saying, “I didn’t jook nobody at the park, I didn’t bore nobody.”
Justice Singh, in response to Jerrick’s utterance, stated that “I am disappointed,” as he said that he was deeply moved by the Defence Counsel’s mitigation plea and the fact that he declared that Jerrick is remorseful.
However, he stated that there were no signs of remorse or regret from Jerrick’s response, which should deter him from delivering the maximum sentence.
He then revealed that while the maximum penalty for manslaughter is 30 years, he would sentence him to 28 years as Jerrick had already spent two years on remand.