Akash Singh pleads guilty to manslaughter in Henry boys' murder case

Akash Singh, 25, pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter at the Berbice High Court. Co-accused Gopaul and Sanchara are already serving life sentences.

Third accused enters guilty plea in Henry cousins killing

Akash Singh, 25, known as "Monkey", pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter on Monday at the Berbice High Court, in the case involving the 2020 deaths of cousins Isaiah Henry and Joel Henry, Kaieteur News reports. Singh had faced two counts of murder but entered a not guilty plea to those charges before Justice Gino Persaud.

State prosecutor Marisa Edwards presented the summary of the charges to the court. According to the prosecution, between September 5 and 6, 2020, Singh was involved in the killing of the two cousins from West Coast Berbice. Their bodies were later discovered in a backdam at Cotton Tree Village in that same area.

Singh's co-accused, Vinod Gopaul and Anil Sanchara, were tried separately and are currently serving life sentences handed down in July by Justice Simone Morris. Both men have maintained their innocence and accused Singh of conspiring with police to frame them.

Singh had served as the prosecution's key witness when the trial got underway in May of this year, and his testimony proved critical to the case against Gopaul and Sanchara. After his arrest in 2021, Singh had reportedly confessed to police, implicating Sanchara — who is also his sibling — and Gopaul, an acquaintance he met through Sanchara.

In his court testimony, Singh described how he and the two convicted men had travelled to a backdam at Cotton Tree Village to tend a marijuana farm. He said they had planted the herbs in August and returned in September, only to find the plants had been destroyed with gramoxone. On the morning of September 5, Singh told the court, he was awoken by a verbal confrontation between Gopaul and Sanchara and the two teenage cousins, who were passing the camp. Gopaul allegedly questioned the boys about who had destroyed the marijuana farm, to which the boys responded with laughter.

According to Singh's account, Gopaul attacked the cousins first with a cutlass, followed by Sanchara. Singh said he was instructed to take part in the assault and was also ordered to carve an "x" on the foreheads of the two cousins. He told the court he had been threatened by the two men that he would suffer the same fate as the boys if he went to police.

When Justice Persaud asked Singh on Monday whether his guilty plea was entered of his own free will, Singh confirmed he was acting with full understanding and without coercion. He was represented by attorney Horatio Edmondson.

Justice Persaud discharged the juror pool following the plea and scheduled sentencing for November 25, 2026. Probation, psychiatric, prison and other reports are to be presented at that hearing.

Source: Kaieteur News