(Kaieteur News) – Akash Singh, called “Monkey”, the third accused in the murder of the Henry boys, has pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter.
Singh, 25, appeared at the Berbice High Court before Justice Gino Persaud on Monday, where he pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty to the lesser counts of manslaughter.
State prosecutor Marisa Edwards presented the summary of the charges to the court. It was alleged that between September 5 and 6, 2020, Singh murdered Isaiah Henry and Joel Henry, two cousins from West Coast Berbice.
Akash Singh
The bodies of Isaiah and Joel were discovered in a backdam at Cotton Tree Village, West Coast Berbice.
Singh’s co-accused, Vinod Gopaul and Anil Sanchara, have already been tried and are currently serving life sentences handed down in July by Justice Simone Morris.
He became the prosecution’s key witness when the trial got underway back in May of this year, and his testimony proved critical to the prosecution’s case against Gopaul and Sanchara, who have maintained their innocence and accused Singh of conspiring with the police to frame them for the murders that stunned the nation.
After being apprehended back in 2021, Singh reportedly confessed to the crime to the police, which directly implicated Sanchara, who is also his sibling, and Gopaul, with whom he became acquainted through Sanchara.
It was Singh who told the court that he and the two now convicted men had journeyed to a backdam located at Cotton Tree Village, to tend to their marijuana farm. In his detailed account, Singh explained that they planted the herbs in August and returned in September, only to observe that the plants were destroyed by gramoxone. On September 5, he said he woke to a verbal exchange between the two men and the two teens, who were passing by their camp. Gopaul sought answers from the boys on whether they knew who destroyed the marijuana farm, to which the boys responded with laughter, Singh had told the court.
The boys were then attacked with cutlasses by Gopaul first, and before Sanchara followed. Singh noted that he was instructed to participate in the fatal assault, and that he was also ordered to carve ‘x’ on the foreheads of the two cousins.
After committing the crime, Singh said he was threatened by the two men that he would suffer a similar fate like the two cousins if he dared to approach the police with details of what they had done. He said he was forced to take part in the crime.
When asked on Monday if he made the decision to enter a guilty plea on his own volition, Singh confirmed to Justice Persaud that he was acting on complete understanding, his own will, and without coercion.
Singh was represented by attorney Horatio Edmondson.
After discharging the juror pool, Justice Persaud scheduled November 25, 2026, for sentencing, along with the presentation of probation, psychiatric, prison and other reports.
Source: Kaieteur News
