Three persons, one of whom has since confessed, were today remanded to prison for the brutal murders of Isaiah Henry, 16, and his 19-year-old cousin – whose badly mutilated bodies were discovered in the backlands of West Coast Berbice in September 2020.
Those charged are 19-year-old Akash Singh, called “Monkey,” of Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo (EBE); his stepbrother, 33-year-old Anil Sancharra, called “Dan pole” and “Rasta,” of D’ Edward Village, WCB; and 34-year-old Vinod Gopaul, called “Magga,” of Yakusari, Black Bush Polder, Corentyne, Berbice.
Singh, who had confessed, was separately charged with the murder of Isaiah while the other two accused were charged jointly for both murders.
They appeared before Magistrate Peter Hugh at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
They are expected to make their next court appearance on February 2 at the Blairmont Magistrate’s Court.
On September 6, 2020 the badly mutilated bodies of Isaiah and Joel were found in the backlands of Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice – almost two days after they had left their Number Three Village, WCB home to pick coconuts.
The murders of the Henry cousins had sparked protests across several villages along the West Coast Berbice corridor, where commuters were beaten and robbed. With roads blocked, some vehicles were also torched.
Then days later, on September 9, 17-year-old Haresh Singh was found murdered at the Number Three Village backlands. It is suspected that his death was in retaliation for the murders of Isaiah and Joel, since he is related to one of the persons initially held by the Police for the cousins’ murders.
However, the Police are yet to make any breakthrough in that case.
According to the confession from Singh, the Henry cousins’ murders stemmed from a destroyed ganja farm in the West Berbice backlands.
