Man appeals 23-year jail sentence for killing elderly woman

Kevon Alfred’s appeal against his 23-year jail sentence for the killing of 75-year-old remigrant, Joyce Lewis, was heard by the Court of Appeal of Guyana on Monday morning.

Since then, the court has postponed making a ruling. 

According to the accusation filed against Alfred, between March 25 and 26, 2014, he killed Lewis during the course  of a robbery.

Dead: Joyce Lewis

Nevertheless, Alfred, formerly of Crane, West Coast Demerara (WCD), chose to enter a guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter when he appeared before Judge Navindra Singh of the Demerara High Court in February 2018.

In his Notice of Appeal to the Court of Appeal of Guyana, Alfred contends, among other things, that the Judge did not provide him with credit for the time he spent in pre-trial custody.

The State is represented by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Mercedes Glasford, and attorney Keoma Griffith is representing the convicted killer.

Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, Chancellor of the Judiciary, and Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory-Barnes and Rishi Persaud heard Alfred’s appeal.

On March 26, 2014, Lewis’s lifeless body was discovered at her North Ruimveldt, Georgetown residence by her sister. 

She was seen alive the day prior. According to reports, the woman was strangled during an early-morning robbery. 

After her death, Alfred was apprehended five months later. Following a preliminary inquiry in 2015, a magistrate committed him to stand trial by a jury before a Judge for the capital offence.

Alfred previously served 48 months in prison after being found guilty of illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition.