Akash Singh, whose testimony was central to the prosecution’s case against the two men convicted of murdering cousins Joel and Isaiah Henry, yesterday pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter at the Berbice Assizes.
Singh, of Zeelugt Squatting Area, East Bank Essequibo, denied the murder charges when he appeared before Justice Gino Persaud but admitted the lesser offences. Sentencing was adjourned to November 25.
Vinod Gopaul and Anil Sancharra were found guilty of the cousins’ murders in June and sentenced the following month to life imprisonment. They must each serve 35 years before becoming eligible for parole. Singh was the prosecution’s principal witness at their trial.
Joel Henry, 18, and Isaiah Henry, 16, of Number Three Village, West Coast Berbice, left home on September 5, 2020, for the backlands. Their mutilated bodies were found the following day. The killings sparked protests and unrest along the West Coast Berbice.
State Prosecutor Marisa Edwards told the court that Singh was at a marijuana camp in the Cotton Tree backdam with Gopaul and Sancharra when he awoke to the sound of people talking. He saw the two men with boys later identified as the Henry cousins.
According to the prosecution’s account, one of the men said the marijuana farm had been sprayed, prompting the boys to laugh. One cousin was chopped when he tried to stand and the other when he attempted to flee.
Edwards said Gopaul and Sancharra threatened Singh with the same fate if he did not help them. Singh then took a cutlass and chopped one of the boys on the head. At a co-offender’s direction, he also marked an X on a victim’s head, the court heard.
After the cousins stopped moving, Singh helped tie their bodies onto horses so they could be removed from the camp, the prosecutor said. He later burned the camp and disposed of the cutlasses and clothing in a koker on the instructions of the other men.
Post-mortem examinations found that both cousins died from haemorrhage and shock due to multiple incised wounds. Edwards said Singh subsequently gave investigators an audio-video interview under caution and took them to the scene, where he recounted what had happened.
Singh was represented by attorney Horatio Edmondson. After accepting the guilty pleas, Justice Persaud requested victim impact statements, submissions on aggravating factors, and probation, prison conduct and psychiatric reports ahead of sentencing.
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