The men convicted of murdering West Coast Berbice cousins Isaiah Henry and Joel Henry will each spend at least 35 years behind bars before becoming eligible for parole after Justice Simone Morris imposed life sentences in the Berbice High Court on Wednesday.
In handing down the sentence, Justice Morris said the court could not overlook the “extreme brutality” of the crime, noting that the teenage cousins were unarmed and offered no threat to their attackers.
The judge reminded the court that Isaiah, 16, and Joel, 19, left their homes on September 5, 2020, for the Number Three Backdam but never returned. Their mutilated bodies were discovered the following day in the Cotton Tree Backdam.
Justice Morris said the evidence established that Vinod Gopaul and Anil Sancharra attacked the cousins with cutlasses before attempting to conceal their bodies. She noted that post-mortem examinations and the testimony of the Government Pathologist showed the injuries were inflicted with tremendous force, severing the victims’ spines.
Describing the impact of the killings, the judge said the loss suffered by the Henry family was profound and lasting, adding that the court had a duty to impose a sentence that reflected the value of the lives taken and the seriousness of the offence. She also pointed to the increasing prevalence of violent crimes involving dangerous weapons such as cutlasses, saying the courts must send a clear message that such acts will attract severe punishment.
Before imposing sentence, the court considered probation reports for both men. While Gopaul and Sancharra expressed sympathy for the victims’ relatives, they continued to deny any involvement in the murders.
The reports also revealed that both men had previous encounters with the law, including narcotics-related matters. In Gopaul’s case, the court heard that he had been charged with the murder of his father when he was 14 years old after intervening in a domestic dispute. That charge was later withdrawn.
Justice Morris sentenced both men to life imprisonment on each of the two murder convictions, ordering that the sentences run concurrently. She further ruled that they receive credit for the time already spent on remand and directed prison authorities to enrol them in literacy and anger management programmes.
The prosecution’s case relied heavily on the evidence of Akash Singh, who was initially charged with the murders before becoming the State’s principal witness. Singh testified that the cousins were killed after they were accused of destroying a marijuana farm. The two convicted men rejected his testimony throughout the trial, and Singh was not committed to stand trial.
The State was represented by Prosecutor Marisa Edwards. Gopaul was represented by Attorney-at-law Chandra Sohan, while Sancharra was represented by attorneys from the Dexter Todd and Associates Law Firm.
