– Minister Benn
Government will support and maintain its protocol in dealing with the US, UK and Canada and not Argentina in seeking forensics assistance into the murders of West Berbice teens, Isaiah Henry, Joel Henry and Haresh Singh, Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn, said on Monday.
“The normal recourse and overseas agents we deal with in further and replicate forensic analysis are in the United States– the FBI, DEA—also, the UK policing authorities and the Canadian. Those are the ones we normally resort to and those are the ones which we will resort to; we have no particular preference to go outside the normal lines of engagement in relation to these matters,” Benn said.
Nigel Hughes, one of the lawyers on the legal team for slain West Coast Berbice teens, Isaiah and Joel Henry, is recommending Government’s support and approval for the Argentine forensic team to be part of the investigations.
The Guyana Police Force (GPF) is offering a $3M reward to anyone who can provide information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators of the gruesome murders.
The team from the CARICOM Regional Security System (RSS), which recently visited Guyana, has expressed satisfaction with the work being done by the GPF in relation to the brutal murders.
The team visited Guyana on September 28 and spent one week assisting local detectives with the case. Their final report has since been submitted to the GPF.
The mutilated bodies of the teen cousins were found on September 6, 2020 in the Cotton Tree backdam in West Berbice.
Their gruesome murders sparked a week of violent protests.
Three days after the Henry boys were found, on September 9, Singh was found in a bloodied state as well, in the Number Three Village backdam, hours after he left home on his motorcycle to transport water for his relatives who were working on their farm.
He was found unconscious by his 12-year-old brother, while his motorcycle was found torched. He died while on the way to the New Amsterdam Hospital.
Singh’s murder is viewed as a reprisal killing for the Henry boys, after news spread that two of his relatives were arrested in connection with their murders.
Police had arrested over seven persons in connection with the murder of the Henry boys, but they were all released, as there was no firm case against them.
As a matter of fact, it took the police more than a week to reveal that the cousins were killed elsewhere, and then dumped in Cotton Tree.
A Post-Mortem Examination (PME) found that they both died from haemorrhage and shock, due to multiple incised wounds. They both sustained severed spines, along with multiple chops about the body.
The killers carved out a huge ‘X’ on Isaiah’s head, while they cut open Joel’s chest. It is suspected that the boys had died some 36 hours prior to being found.
No one was arrested for the murder of Singh, and a PME found that he died from brain haemorrhage and blunt trauma to the head, compounded by compression injuries to the neck.
Following countrywide protests against the murders, President Irfaan Ali had sought international help, and talks were underway to secure the services of one of the world’s foremost agencies in forensic anthropology to support the investigation of the police.
Persons who have information related to the murders are asked to contact the GPF on the following telephone numbers: 225-6411, 226-6978, 225-8196, 226-1326, 225-2227, 225-3650, 225-7625, 227-1149, 232-0291, 232-0213, 330-2222, 911, or the nearest police station. In this regard, the GPF assures the general public that all information received will be treated with the strictest confidence.
