— parents say as they contend killings not about race and demand justice

By Nafeeza Yahya-Sakur
The brutal slaying of two teenagers on Saturday in the quiet farming community of Number Three village, West Coast Berbice has spurred protest actions across several villages in both East and West Berbice.
Protesters have taken to the streets to vent their frustration and outrage at the gruesome manner in which the two teenage cousins met their demise.
While there are some reports of robberies on citizens and vandalism of vehicles committed by the protesters, the immediate families of the boys have maintained that the protest actions are about justice and not meant to spur hatred or violence.
Gail Johnson, the mother of Joel Henry, 19, amid tears recalled that her son was a very hardworking individual and when he did not show up on Saturday night, she thought he had gone to work at the estate in the night shift as he had told her earlier.
“He said ‘mommy I gun work the night shift cause the money small’. But I tell he ‘I don’t like it when he working in the nights’… when he didn’t come home on Saturday I stayed up whole night thinking he went to work but the next morning Isaiah mother came and started crying asking if Joel didn’t come home too last night.”
Joel was attached to the GuySuCo’s Blairmont Estate working in the packaging department with responsibilities for ‘bagging sugar’.

VERY SUPPORTIVE

According to his mother, Joel was very supportive of her and his seven siblings. Johnson, a single parent sold fried plantain chips and crabs at the Berbice Bridge and had a stint as a security guard all in a bid to provide for her family.
A sibling of Joel still sells chips by the bridge as they support their mother and each other financially.
The trip to the backdam, according to his sibling was his second and he was looking forward to returning home early to get to work.

Joel’s body was found in a ditch in a patch of bushes face down with his haversack still on his back. His back appeared broken, his neck displaced and his chest was reportedly cut open.
His cousin, Isaiah Henry, 16, was found a short distance away with his throat slashed, chops to the face and an ‘X’ carved on his face. Gladston Henry, Isaiah’s father questioned why the killers had to take the life of his son in such a manner.

NOT ABOUT RACE
“This is not about race or religion or political things. I am talking on my own behalf, this is not about those things but this here is about justice. Why they didn’t ‘beat them or punish them? Why the didn’t bring them to the police station if they did something wrong? His cousin whole body break up, and why them mark me son with an X? We want justice for these youths these little boys that get them whole life ahead of them.”
With his voice breaking, Gladston stated that his son grew up in a Christian home and was a very jovial lad who had a passion for fixing things and wanted to become a mechanic. Gladstone recalled his son telling him on Friday evening that he was heading to the backdam early Saturday.
“We have a place in the backdam that we does pick coconuts and mangoes and stuff but I didn’t know exactly where they were going. When I come home his mother told me they did not come home and the next morning I didn’t go to work. I went to the estate and get help and we start searching.”
Gladston said he grew his son to be God-fearing and would always encourage him to go to church.

“He grow up in church, I taught him the way of the Lord and Sunday school right on to this age. He was a very nice and quiet boy,” the grieving father said.
“We need to see justice that is why the communities come together and the villages come together that we can receive justice. I feel that if the leaders, they ain’t come and do the right thing, honestly in their mind that they know they have children. I have nothing against no religion. I am not a politician; I am not into politics because I am a Christian,” he said, adding: “I believe in Jesus Christ but whosoever rule I will support them. Irfaan Ali if you hear this I pray that you please help us to find justice for our sons.”