ANIL Sancharra, called “Dan Pole” and “Rasta”, and Vinod Gopaul, called “Magga”, were on Wednesday sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving 35 years for the brutal murders of West Coast Berbice cousins Joel Henry and Isaiah Henry.
Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall handed down the sentence in the Berbice High Court, almost one month after a 12-member jury unanimously found both men guilty of the September 2020 murders.
The court imposed the life sentences after considering probation and psychological reports that had been ordered following the guilty verdicts.
Sancharra, of D’Edward Village, West Coast Berbice, and Gopaul, of Yakusari, Black Bush Polder, Corentyne, were convicted of murdering the teenage cousins, whose mutilated bodies were discovered in the Cotton Tree backlands on September 6, 2020, a crime that shocked the nation and triggered widespread protests and unrest across West Coast Berbice.
During the trial, the prosecution relied heavily on the testimony of state witness Akash Singh, who was initially charged in connection with the murders before becoming a witness for the State.
Singh testified that he had accompanied the two accused into the backlands where marijuana was allegedly being cultivated. According to him, after discovering that the marijuana plants had been destroyed, the men encountered the two teenagers near their camp.
He told the court that after one of the teenagers laughed during a discussion about the damaged crops, Gopaul confronted him before launching an attack. Singh said Gopaul chopped one teenager while Sancharra attacked the other.
The witness testified that after the killings, he was instructed to assist in disposing of the bodies, which were tied onto horses and removed from the scene by the accused men.
He further claimed that he was ordered to dispose of the cutlasses allegedly used in the attack, along with his bloodstained clothing, by throwing them into a canal.
Singh also told the court that he had been threatened by the accused and warned not to report what he had witnessed. However, after his arrest in January 2021, he said he disclosed everything he knew to investigators.
During cross-examination, Singh denied repeated suggestions by the defence that he had fabricated his account or that police had assaulted him into making statements.
Instead, he alleged that while the three men were imprisoned together, the accused instructed him to falsely claim that police had beaten him.
“I come out from prison to talk the truth,” Singh told the court.
He also maintained that he had received no promises from investigators in exchange for his testimony and that no charges against him had been dropped as part of any agreement with the prosecution.
The court also heard medical evidence from pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh, who detailed the multiple traumatic injuries sustained by Joel and Isaiah Henry, describing the extensive wounds inflicted on both teenagers.
The prosecution was led by Marisa Edwards, while attorneys-at-law Dr Dexter Todd and Dexter Smartt and Chandra Sohan represented the two accused throughout the trial.
The murders of Joel and Isaiah Henry sparked national outrage in 2020, with the discovery of their bodies leading to days of protests, road blockages and calls for justice.
With Wednesday’s sentence, both Sancharra and Gopaul will spend the remainder of their lives in prison but will become eligible to apply for parole after serving 35 years behind bars.