Orwin and Cleon Hinds, Roy Jacobs, and Kevin October, who were each sentenced to 81 years’ imprisonment for the 2011 murder of 72-year-old Clementine Fiedtkou-Parris, who was gunned down at her Robb Street, Georgetown residence, are asking the Guyana Court of Appeal to quash their conviction and sentence.
The men were arraigned this week before Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, and Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud.
Murdered: Clementine Fiedtkou-Parris
The matter, which was set for case management conference (CMC), has been deferred until January 28, 2021 as two of the murder convicts, Kevin October and Roy Jacobs, were unrepresented by counsel.
Attorney-at-Law Mark Conway appeared on behalf of Cleon Hinds. The lawyer informed the court that the convict’s family said the appeal, which was filed in 2015, came up “sudden,” and they are requesting some time to retain counsel.
Orwin Hinds is being represented by Attorney George Thomas.
In light of the men’s circumstances, Justice Cummings-Edwards informed the men to make arrangements to have counsel retained and properly briefed, so that the court can proceed with hearing the matter.
According to the charge the men face, on June 30, 2011, they murdered Fiedtkou-Parris pursuant to an arrangement whereby money was intended to be passed from one person to another. The elderly woman was shot and killed on that night at her 42 Robb Street, Georgetown home.
Media reports are that two men had gone to the woman’s home asking for ‘auntie’. When the elderly woman emerged from her bedroom, one of them pulled out a gun and shot her several times to her upper body.
They fled the scene in a waiting motorcar while the elderly woman was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
It is believed that a bitter dispute over a property might have been the motive for her killing.
Following trial before Justice Navindra Singh in 2015, the four men were found guilty of the crime by a 12-member jury. Justice Singh imposed the 81-year prison term on each of them, and ordered that they do not become eligible for parole until after serving a minimum of 45 years.
Despite the guilty verdict, they had all professed their innocence.
Orwin and Cleon Hinds, Roy Jacobs, and Kevin October, who were each sentenced to 81 years’ imprisonment for the 2011 murder of 72-year-old Clementine Fiedtkou-Parris, who was gunned down at her Robb Street, Georgetown residence, are asking the Guyana Court of Appeal to quash their conviction and sentence.
