PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Tuesday sentenced two brothers from Guyana to life imprisonment with any chance of parole coming after 20 years in jail.
The CCJ had, in October last year, heard the appeal filed by the brothers Orwin and Cleon Hinds, dismissing the appellants’ appeals against conviction for murder but reserved its decision on the appeals against the sentences.
The brothers were found guilty in 2015 of murdering Clementine Fiedtkou-Parris in 2011 for the payment of money and were each sentenced to 81 years imprisonment without eligibility for a parole before serving 45 years. They appealed to the Court of Appeal, and that Court reduced their sentences to 50 years.
The brothers then appealed to the CCJ, who, in a judgment written by Justice Barrow, noted that the guilty verdicts were primarily based on the brothers’ written and oral confessions, particularly about Orwin, on the evidence of an eyewitness who identified him on an identification parade. The CCJ recalled the written statements of the brothers, which set out the plan to kill Fiedtkou-Parris, the persons who were involved in that plan, how and where the killing was carried out and by whom and the events which transpired after the killing, including the payment of money to the brothers.
The Court found that nothing in the appellants’ argument could undermine the value and weight of the appellants’ written statements.
On the issue of sentencing, the CCJ noted that the murder committed by the brothers fell into the class of the ‘worst’ murders under s 100(1) of the Act.
Murders are placed in the class of the ‘worst murders’ or the ‘gravest kind of murder’ because they are far more violative of society’s peace and order. Any person guilty of this class of murder is subject to either death or imprisonment for life.
Where life imprisonment is imposed, section 100(A)(3) states that the Court must specify a period which that person must serve before becoming eligible for parole. In the case of the ‘worst’ murders, that period should be not less than 20 years.
In noting the requirements of the Act, the CCJ found that courts have no power to impose any limited period that purported or was intended to exceed the sentence fixed by the Act. Also, courts must succeed in setting a minimum period that must be served before a person can become eligible for parole.
As such, the 50-year sentence imposed by the Court of Appeal of Guyana, which did not specify the period after which the appellants would be eligible for parole, must be set aside. The CCJ sentenced each appellant to imprisonment for life with eligibility to be considered for parole after 20 years, including time spent detained while awaiting trial.
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