'Granny' killers to serve 50 years in jail

The Court of Appeal (COA), on Tuesday, upheld the convictions of three men for the June 30, 2011, murder of 72-year-old Clementine Fiedtkou-Parris who was gunned down at her Robb Street, Georgetown residence but reduced their sentence from 81 to 50 years.

Court of Appeal

Roy Jacobs, Orwin Hinds, Kevin October, and Cleon Hinds were found guilty of the crime in 2015 following a trial before Justice Navindra Singh in the High Court.

They were each sentenced to 81 years in prison with eligibility for parole set after serving 45 years.

Following their trial, the trio moved to the Court of Appeal to have their conviction and sentence quashed, and in so doing, contended that the trial judge committed several errors in law during the trial proceedings.

They also contended that the 81-year prison term was manifestly excessive.

However, October died last year after contracting COVID-19 in prison. Notwithstanding, the trio went ahead with their appeal.

The appeal was heard by Chancellor (ag) Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud.

In delivering the court’s ruling today, Justice Cummings-Edwards described the woman’s killing as gruesome, noting that the men who were “hired for pay” invaded the privacy of the woman’s home.

The court rejected the convicts’ grounds of appeal as it relates to the errors made by the judge during the trial.

The court, however, agreed with the men that the sentence imposed by the trial judge was excessive and not in keeping with established sentencing guidelines.

As such, the appeal court set aside the 81-year sentence imposed by Justice Singh and imposed a sentence of 50 years on each of the convicts.

Reports are that two men, one of whom was armed with a gun went to the woman’s home and requested to speak with her. When the elderly woman emerged from her bedroom, she was shot several times about the body.

Her killers then escaped in a waiting motorcar. Fiedtkou-Parris was rushed to the Georgetown Hospital Corporation, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. It is believed that the woman was killed over a property dispute.

According to reports, during interrogation by detectives, one of the convicted killers admitted that he and his accomplices were paid almost $2.M to execute the elderly woman.