23 years for killer of home-alone granny

Feb 21, 2018 News

MURDERED: Joyce Lewis

A 23-year prison term was yesterday imposed on Kevon Alfred, after he pleaded guilty to killing 75-year-old Joyce Lewis, in her Christiani Street, North Ruimveldt, Georgetown home on March 26, 2014.
Alfred, of Crane, West Coast Demerara, opted to plead guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter when he appeared before Justice Navindra Singh at the High Court in Georgetown.
Initially, Alfred was indicted for the murder of the elderly woman.
Representing Alfred was State-assigned Attorney George Thomas, while Prosecutors Tiffini Lyken, Abigail Gibbs and Narissa Leander appeared for the State.
Alfred, also known as “Sherwin Alfred”, was scheduled to go on trial yesterday for the murder before a 12-member mixed jury. However, he decided to plead guilty to the lesser offence after consulting with his lawyer.
Lewis had been living alone at her residence – Lot 3630 Christiani Street, North Ruimveldt, Georgetown – since her husband, a former Police Inspector, passed away three years earlier.
On the morning of March 26, 2014, a relative ventured to Lewis’s house after she failed to answer several calls made to both her cellular and landline phones. It was then that her body was discovered.
According to reports, there were marks on the pensioner’s neck which suggested that she had been strangled.
Her underwear was partially removed and her home was ransacked.
It was believed that the perpetrator gained entry into Lewis’s home by climbing through a bay window near the verandah. Police had confirmed that they found a “fresh” footprint on the window ledge.
Crime scene detectives had found a large knife wrapped in a rag in Lewis’ front yard.