A 32-year-old former police officer was on Tuesday sentenced to a serve 14 years imprisonment for killing Sterling Products Security Officer, Wilfred Stewart and Guyana Geology and Mines (GGMC) engineer, Trevor Abrams, five years ago.
Orin Arthur appeared before Justice Navindra Singh at the Demerara High Court where he faced two counts of murder, however, he opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.
He admitted that on February 27, 2015, at Little Diamond, East Bank Demerara (EBD), he unlawfully killed Trevor Abrams. Steven Prescott called ‘Assassin’, 49, of Covent Garden, EBD, is currently on remand awaiting trial for the murder of Abrams.
The second charge alleged that Arthur on December 24, 2014, at Providence, EBD, during the course of or after a robbery, he unlawfully killed Wilfred Stewart.
Arthur also pleaded guilty to two charges which read that on March 27, 2015, at the Diamond, EBD, he had 17 live rounds of .233 ammunition, and 12 live rounds of .32 ammunition along with a .32 pistol in his possession without being the holder of a firearm licence.
He was represented by attorney-at-law Dexter Todd, while the state was represented by prosecutor,Tyra Bakker.
Todd told the court that his client was the get-away driver when the crimes were committed. The lawyer argued that his client was following the lead of the “wrong company.”
“I should have known better but I was young, dumb and participated in those crimes,” Arthur told the court as he apologised for his actions.
Prosecutor Bakker told the court that Abrams’ life was snuffed out for a mere $5M, while Stewart was killed on duty at Sterling. She further asked the Judge to let the sentence reflect the nature and gravity of the crimes.
Justice Singh sentenced Arthur to serve 14 years on each of the manslaughter charges and three years on the two firearm-related charges.
The Judge ordered that the sentences run concurrently and that the prison authorities should deduct from the sentence, the time Arthur spent in pre-trial custody.
