The family of Isaiah and Joel Henry, the West Coast Berbice (WCB) teenagers who were brutally murdered more than four months ago yesterday staged a protest outside of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) office, Eve Leary.
The family is calling for the police to provide them with an update on the investigation.
They said the police have been silent on the investigation and numerous efforts to obtain an update proved futile.
As such, they decided to protest hoping that Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum would approach them with answers. However, while the relatives were there, their request was not granted.
The protest ended without feedback from the police.
“….Four month have gone since this cruel incident happened with our sons Isaiah and Joel in Cotton Tree Backdam and we ain’t getting no answers,” Isaiah’s father, Gladston Henry told reporters yesterday.
Gladston added that the pace of the investigation is only adding to the family’s distress. “We are full with anger and pain because of the way how this investigation is going,” he said.
He said that while months have passed, the killer/s are still roaming the streets freely.
“…..These people and these killers left right out there…..We want to know if these people go free in such a cruel murder what will happen for the future generation. These two young boys had a whole future ahead of them and they snuff them out in a kind of a cruel way. Like some animal or something. We cannot get these people in society still living around here. Still doing what they please and moving as they like in this society and in this country,” Gladston said.
Isaiah, 16, a student at the Woodley Park Secondary School, and Joel, 18, who worked at the Blairmont Estate, went missing on Saturday, September 5, after they left home for the Cotton Tree backlands to pick coconuts. Their mutilated bodies were found the next day during a search, sparking days of unrest in West Berbice.
Days after, another teenager, Singh, was also murdered in what is believed to be a reprisal killing.
Crime Chief Blanhum last week disclosed that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is currently providing the Guyana Police Force (GPF) with “technical assistance” in relation to the investigations into the brutal murders.
Blanhum said that as the probes continue, local police have sought the assistance of the FBI to aid in “certain” aspects of the investigations.
During last month, President Irfaan Ali had told reporters that he is aware that the police have reached out to the FBI in “some” components of the investigations. Ali had described this as a “continued” collaboration.
At the time, Ali was responding to a question asked by the media as to whether the government will be accepting the offer of assistance from the Argentine Team of Forensic Anthropology (EAAF).
He had said that the police will advise him on whether additional help is needed in the investigations.
Ali had said that the government has already facilitated a team from the Caribbean Community’s Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (CARICOM IMPACS) and the Regional Security System (RSS).
Justice
According to Gladston, the family will not stop pressing for justice until they are provided with answers.
“We need justice for these boys and we will never left. We will not stop protesting if we ain’t got justice. They promised us justice yes but what this justice coming on, on a turtle back? Hanging behind on a thread,” Gladston lamented.
The president had previously promised that no stone would be left unturned in finding those responsible for the killing.
Gladston noted that the process since the incident has not been an easy one and affects the family every day.
“This is not nothing easy. It is something that gave us sleepless nights. So many pain when we reflect because we went into the backdam and bring out these boys, Isaiah and Joel and every time we remember these things and we ain’t getting justice it brings pain, it bring so much heartache, so much suffering to know that we are not getting justice for these boys and we need answers,” he explained.
Gladston further stated that while the pain might never get old, the family will feel relief if the perpetrator/s of the crime are caught and charged.
“We need justice and we need it now. We need answers. We need it now….. These two boy life cannot go down like this. Justice is for everyone. The poor, the rich…. These boys didn’t sick and die, they did get accident, knock down on the road or fall off a coconut tree. They were executed like some animal…. We need answers,” Gladston said.
“….They have done the crime, they have to spend the time. That’s all we need. We need justice, we need answers. We need these people to come out and tell us something how this investigation is going,” he added.
In early October, the GPF, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) and the law firm Hughes, Fields & Stoby had announced that the EAAF team had offered to aid local authorities with the investigations.
In a joint statement, they had said that the team, which has worked on high profile cases in many parts of the world, offered to send a team to Guyana, including a forensic pathologist, a forensic anthropologist, a forensic radiologist and a criminalist.
Early this month, Director of EAAF Dr. Luis Fondebrider visited Guyana to assess whether the team is capable of supporting local police in the probes. During his five-day visit, Dr. Fondebrider met with the families of the teenagers, visited the crime scene and the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) mortuary and met with Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn and senior members of the GPF including Blanhum.
Before his departure, Dr. Fondebrider told reporters that he had requested a list of 20 documents from the police in order to offer advice on solving the murders.
