GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) – A High Court judge has sentenced two men to life imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in the murders of two elderly women two years ago.

Justice Sandel Kissoon imposed the sentences on Imran Khan, also known as Christopher Khan, 25, and Stephen Jason Andrews, 28, for murdering Constance Fraser, 89, and Phyllis Caesar, 77, during a robbery at their home between October 2 and October 3, 2017.

The court heard that the men had broken into the home of the two elderly women, ransacked the place, stole money and valuables.

The women’s hands and feet were bound and mouths gagged. During the home invasion, the women were strangled. Their bodies were discovered lying face down in separate bedrooms a day later.

Pathologist, Dr Nehaul Singh, said their deaths were due to asphyxiation due to suffocation and manual strangulation, compounded by trauma to the head.

During the sentencing phase, Margaret Gitttens, the daughter of Fraser, told the court that three months after her mother’s death, her sister passed away because she was grieving.

She said her mother’s life was snatched away by the two “rascals” sitting in the prisoner docks, who are “cowardly murderers” that opted to take a plea for manslaughter rather than face a capital offence of murder.

During a plea of mitigation, attorney Keoma Griffith asked the court to consider that his clients were young fathers and sole breadwinners for their family.

He also asked the court to consider that his clients did not have any father figures in their lives to guide them and did not get to finish school.

But the prosecution urged the court to consider that the two defendants had prior brushes with the law.

In 2013, Andrews was found not guilty of the murder of 70-year-old Dulcie Trim, while Khan had served 18 months for larceny and, subsequently, three years for escaping from police custody.

Justice Kissoon, after considering the background of the case and the plea of mitigation, sentenced them to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving 35 years behind bars.