MURDER charges were again instituted on Thursday against two prime suspects in the murder of teen cousins Joel and Isaiah Henry, whose mutilated bodies were found aback Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice last September. Anil Sancharra, 33, called “Dan-Pole” and “Rasta”, of D’Edward Village, West Coast Berbice; and Vinod Gopaul, 34, called “Magga”, of Yakusari, Black Bush Polder, Corentyne, were last month freed of the murder of Isaiah, the younger of the two Henry boys, by Magistrate Peter Hugh at the Blairmont Magistrate’s Court due to there being insufficient evidence to warrant a conviction. Magistrate Hugh ruled in favour of a no-case submission made by the men’s attorney, Dexter Todd, who contended that the State had failed to make out a case against his clients. But, though freed of Isaiah’s murder, they were still being held on remand, pending the preliminary inquiry into the murder of his cousin, Joel, which was to have commenced on August 10, 2021, but was inexplicably withdrawn.

On Thursday, on the advice of the police’s legal adviser, the charge of murder was reinstituted against the men, with Sancharra appearing via Zoom at the Fort Wellington Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Singh, while Gopaul was a “no show”.
Sancharra was not required to plead to the charge which alleges that he murdered both Joel and Isaiah Henry between September 5 and 6, 2020, in the Cotton Tree ‘back-dam’.
The matter has been adjourned to August 10, 2021, when the murder charge is expected to be read to Gopaul at the Blairmont Magistrate’s Court.
Sancharra’s step-brother, Akash Singh, 20, called “Monkey”, of Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo, is also on remand for the murder of the Henry boys, but his matter is being heard separately before Magistrate Hugh.

The mutilated bodies of Isaiah, 16, and Joel, 18, were found on September 6, 2020, in the Cotton Tree Backdam, West Coast Berbice. A post-mortem found that the Henrys had died of haemorrhage and shock, due to multiple incised wounds. They’d both sustained a severed spine, along with multiple chops about the body. The killers went so far as to carve out a huge ‘X’ on Isaiah’s head, and cut open Joel’s chest.
It is suspected that the boys had died some 36 hours prior to being found. Three days later, Haresh Singh, 17, was found, in a bloodied state as well, in the backlands of Number Three Village, mere hours after leaving ho