Months after teenage cousins Isaiah and Joel Henry were brutally murdered in West Coast Berbice (WCB), the police have made a breakthrough following the arrests of three suspects including two brothers, who will be charged with the crime today.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum yesterday told Stabroek News that the police acting on intelligence received arrested the suspects between January 10th and 11th.
The suspects go by the aliases ‘Monkey’, ‘Magga’ and ‘Dan Pole’. ‘Dan Pole’ and ‘Monkey’ are brothers.
‘Monkey’, 19, a handyman was arrested on January 10th at Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo (EBE).The other two suspects were arrested the following day at Blairmont, WCB and Black Bush Polder, respectively.
The men were questioned by ranks of the Criminal Investigation Department’s (CID) Major Crimes Unit during which ‘Monkey’ confessed to his involvement in the crime and implicated the others.
A case file was later prepared and sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) who yesterday advised that the trio be charged with the murders.
The trio are expected to appear in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court this morning.
Isaiah, 16, a student at the Woodley Park Secon-dary School and Joel, 18, who worked at the Blairmont Estate, went missing on Saturday, September 5th, 2020 after they left home for the Cotton Tree backlands to pick coconuts.
After they did not return home, relatives lodged missing persons’ reports with the police and subsequently launched a search. It was while searching that the bodies of the teens were discovered.
Autopsies performed on the bodies of the teenagers showed that they both died from haemorrhage and shock due to multiple wounds.
Since the incident, a number of persons, including the owner of a coconut estate and some individuals who allegedly saw the Henrys on September 4th, one day before their bodies were discovered were arrested and questioned in relation to the crime.
However, they were subsequently released without being charged.
The suspects are all known to the police. Blanhum said as the investigation continues, the police are pursuing a number of other individuals.
Confession
During questioning, the police say that ‘Monkey’ confessed to his involvement in the crime. His accomplices denied.
The confession was video recorded by the police for transparency.
In the confession, which was shown to reporters last evening, ‘Monkey’ provided the police with a detailed descriptions of how the crimes took place.
‘Monkey’ explained that he and his accomplices went to Berbice in August to plant marijuana. Upon their arrival in Berbice, he said his accomplices showed him an area and told him that was where the planting had to be done.
In order to reach the location, ‘Monkey’ told the police that they walked for about three hours. During the journey, he said they stopped and ate food which they had prepared for the journey.
Once there, he said they proceeded to an area which they ‘cleared’ to build a camp.
After they were finished, he added that they went to another spot which is located a short distance away and prepared for the planting. ‘Monkey’ said he and the two other suspects weeded a field and fertilized the soil.
He further related that his accomplices later told him that they were going to collect weed from an individual. They left and returned with a plastic bag containing ‘nursery weed’.
According to ‘Monkey’, he and his accomplices had dinner and as the sun set they planted the weed.
“Destroyed”
Sometime in September, ‘Monkey’ further related that he and the other two suspects travelled back to the area to check on the plants when they discovered that they had been sprayed with poison. Their camp had also been destroyed.
As a result, ‘Monkey’ said ‘Magga’ and ‘Dan Pole’ became angry and went to the individual, who they allegedly got the plants from.
On their way, ‘Monkey’ said they met some of the man’s workers who also related that their plants were also destroyed.
To prove this, the men took them and showed them the plants which had also been destroyed.
According to ‘Monkey’, the workers told ‘Magga’ and ‘Dan Pole’ that the ‘boss man’ wanted to see them.
As a result, they went to meet the man and during the meeting ‘Monkey’ said his accomplices vented that they will ‘chop up’ whoever destroyed their farm.
He said the ‘bossman’ related to them that there are usually two ‘wicked’ boys in the backdam who would destroyed persons’ items and eat out their food.
The following morning, ‘Monkey’ said ‘Magga’ and ‘Dan Pole’ were having breakfast and they were planning to chop the boys who were later identified as the Henrys.
‘Monkey’ told the police that he was awoken by talk coming from outside the camp. Upon checking, he said he saw ‘Magga’ and ‘Dan Pole’ talking with the Henrys.
During the conversation, ‘Monkey’ said the suspects told the Henrys someone had destroyed their plants and they looked at each other and laughed.
Chop
As a result of this, ‘Monkey’ further explained that ‘Magga’ and ‘Dan Pole’ got angry and allegedly launched an attack on the Henrys.
‘Monkey’ told investigators that ‘Magga’ and ‘Dan Pole’ allegedly chopped the Henrys to their necks with cutlasses. He said they then continued to chop them about their bodies.
During the chopping spree, ‘Monkey’ said his accomplice ordered him to also chop the teens. He said they told him if he refused to, they would also mercilessly chop him about his body.
In fear, ‘Monkey’ said he collected one of their cutlasses and dealt the teenagers chops about their bodies.
He added that one of his accomplices marked an X on one of the teenagers’ forehead and they ordered him to do the same to the other teen which he complied with.
‘Monkey’ said after the chopping, his accomplice he placed the teenagers’ bodies on two horses, they had.
He said he is unaware of what happened afterwards since he left the scene.
Immense pressure
Since the bodies of the teens were found in the Cotton Tree backdam, triggering protests in West Berbice, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has been under immense pressure to find and charge their killers.
Just earlier this week, the families of the Henrys staged a protest outside of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) office at Eve Leary to call for the police to provide them with an update on the investigation.
During last week, Blanhum had disclosed that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is providing the police with “technical assistance” in relation to the investigations into the brutal murders.
Last month, President Irfaan Ali had told reporters that he is aware that the police have reached out to the FBI in “some” components of the investigations. Ali had described this as a “continued” collaboration.
At the time, Ali was responding to a question asked by the media as to whether the government will be accepting the offer of assistance from the Argentine Team of Forensic Anthropology (EAAF).
He had said that the police will advise him on whether additional help is needed in the investigations.
Ali had said that the government has already facilitated a team from the Caribbean Community’s Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (CARICOM IMPACS) and the Regional Security System (RSS).
In early October, the GPF, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) and the law firm Hughes, Fields & Stoby had announced that the EAAF team had offered to aid local authorities with the investigations.
In a joint statement, they had said that the team, which has worked on high profile cases in many parts of the world, offered to send a team to Guyana, including a forensic pathologist, a forensic anthropologist, a forensic radiologist and a criminalist.
Early December, Director of EAAF Dr. Luis Fondebrider visited Guyana to assess whether the team is capable of supporting local police in the probes. During his five-day visit, Dr. Fondebrider met with the families of the teenagers, visited the crime scene and the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) mortuary and met with Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn and senior members of the GPF including Blanhum.
Before his departure, Dr. Fondebrider told reporters that he had requested a list of 20 documents from the police in order to offer advice on solving the murders.
