Another suspect held over murder of Henry cousins

The police have arrested a sixth suspect in connection with the gruesome murders of teenaged cousins  Isiah and Joel Henry and the five others who were  detained earlier this week were set to be released last evening.

Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, Crime Chief Wendell  Blanhum confirmed that the sixth  suspect was arrested on Sunday.  He remained in police custody up to yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday clarified the framework under which CARICOM investigative support is being elicited.

It said that “The Government of The Cooperative Republic of Guyana made a request for investigative services to CARICOM IMPACS, under the Regional Investigative Management Systems (RIMS) to assist in the investigation of the double homicide of two young men from Cotton Tree, Berbice (and the murder of Haresh Singh). IMPACS will convene a team of investigators under RIMS Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, the Regional Security System and CARICOM IMPACS”.

According to Blanhum,  the five other suspects who were arrested on Friday were scheduled to be released last evening after their maximum 72-hours detention period expired. He said they will however have to report to the police from today as the probe continues.

Blanhum had previously told this newspaper that among the five suspects were individuals who allegedly saw the Henrys  on September  4th,  one day before their bodies were discovered. He had said that the suspects were taken into custody after they initially denied that they saw the dead teenagers on the day in question.

Stabroek News was  reliably informed that two of the five suspects were previously  detained during the early stages of the investigation. They are  both related to Haresh Singh, the teenager who was allegedly murdered days after the Henrys  in what police believe is a reprisal killing.

Two Sundays ago, the police said that the bodies of the cousins were found about 600 feet from each other in clumps of bush near to a coconut farm on the WCB.

Isaiah, 16, a student at the Woodley Park Secon-dary School, and Joel, 18, who worked at the Blair-mont Estate, went missing on Saturday, September 5, after they left home for the Cotton Tree backlands to pick coconuts.

After they did not return home, relatives lodged missing persons’ reports with the police and subsequently launched a search. It was while searching that the bodies of the teens were discovered.

Autopsies performed on the bodies of the teenagers showed that they both died from haemorrhage and shock due to multiple wounds.

A number of persons, including the owner of a coconut estate were arrested and questioned in relation to the murder of the  Henrys. However,  they were subsequently placed on station bail.

The arrests of the five suspects came on Friday, hours after the police announced that after combing the backlands of the No.  2 and   No. 3 Villages, WCB,  dozens of ranks found nothing of  “evidential”  value for the investigation into the  murder of the Henrys.

Police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Royston Andries-Junor had said that a “methodical” search was carried out in the backlands of No.2 and No.3 Villages,  WCB between 7am and 2pm Thursday by a total of seventy-five ranks which included members of the Criminal Investigation Department‘s (CID)  Major Crimes Unit and Region Five.

The team was headed by Police Commander of Region Five Edmond Cooper and a Lieutenant Colonel.  They were also accompanied by Govern-ment Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh. 

“Ranks on the ground also received aerial support via a helicopter from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF). However, nothing of evidential value was found,” the police said.

During last week, the police had said that investigations revealed that the Henrys were not killed at the location where their bodies were found. “…Pre-liminary findings showed that the bodies of the Henry boys were discovered at a secondary crime scene,” the police in a statement had said.

This means that the heinous murders were not committed where the bodies were found. “Person(s) moved the bodies after the murder and placed them at the locations where they were subsequently discovered,” the police added.

Forensic evidence was found at the secondary crime scene and has since been collected, preserved and submitted to the Guy-ana Forensic Laboratory for DNA analysis.

The police had also said that DNA samples were also collected from the suspects who were in custody and sent for a comparative analysis to be conducted against the forensic evidence collected from the secondary crime scene.

The results are expected within the next three weeks.

In an address to the nation on the evening  of September 9th, President Irfaan Ali had announced that he will  be mobilizing help from the Regional Security Service (RSS) of the Caribbean and the UK government to bolster the investigative capacity of the police force as they probe the murders of the teenagers in the village of Cotton Tree as well as the “criminality which led to the disruption of lives along the Region Five corridor.”

We will seek to use all available tools in not only solving these crimes but also in getting a comprehensive and holistic picture as to all the events surrounding what took place thereafter,” Ali had said.

This newspaper was reliably informed that the authorities met on Thursday to discuss a plan ahead of the arrival of a team from the RSS and affiliated bodies.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall on Sunday told Stabroek News that the draft terms  of reference and a  Memorandum of Understanding for the investigations to be led  by the RSS officials into the murders of the Henrys and Singh have been completed and should be processed this week by the AG’s Chambers.

“The President has committed to the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry comprising of both local and international personnel of high calibre to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of the three young men in Berbice and the violent aftermath which flowed therefrom,” Nandlall had said.

“The terms of reference would include the role of politicians, if any, it will examine the response of the law enforcement agency it will examine the violence and the perpetrators of the violence which flowed as the aftermath and will also consider appropriate compensation for those who suffered in terms of personal injuries and proprietary interest,” he added.