Orin Jerrick was yesterday handed a 10-year sentence for the 2014 killing of Plaisance minibus driver, Gavin Fiffee; but will serve only the next two years, following deductions for the eight years he had been on remand.
Back in February of 2016, Jerrick who was tried for the capital offence, was convicted by a jury on the lesser count of manslaughter instead. He had been sentenced to serve 28 years in jail.
He, however, subsequently appealed his conviction which the Guyana Court of Appeal in 2020 found was unsafe, owing to a number of legal errors the trial judge had made.
As a consequence, the appellate court set that conviction aside and ordered that Jerrick face a fresh trial.
At his arraignment last month, however, he denied the capital charge when it was read to him, but admitted guilt on the lesser count of manslaughter.
Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall who imposed the sentence commenced at a base of 18 years from which she deducted one-third for the offender’s guilty plea; leaving 12 years.
From that, she further deducted two years on account of mitigating factors; and from the remaining 10 years, an additional eight years were deducted as full credit for the time Jerrick would have been on remand from 2014.
Background
It has been the state’s case that Jerrick and Fiffee had an argument, during which the convict stabbed Fiffee in his chest.
The injured man was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he subsequently died.
It has always been the defence’s contention that Jerrick was defending himself from Fiffee, the aggressor, who was broadsiding him with a cutlass.
The evidence before the court had been that the convict had approached Fiffee and said something, after which he (Jerrick) began punching him.
The court during the trial had heard that moments later, Fiffee armed himself with a cutlass and began broadsiding Jerrick.
The court had also heard from one of the witnesses that during this time, Jerrick was seen with what appeared to have been a knife in his hand.
Jerrick was represented by defence attorneys Nigel Hughes and Konyo Sandiford, while the prosecution was represented by state counsel Muntaz Ali.
