They say “time longer than twine”, and at long last – almost six years after their horrific murders and mutilation of their bodies on September 5, 2020 – justice has been delivered for those two Henry cousins – Isaiah, 16, and Joel, 19, from West Berbice. A jury of 12, after considering the eyewitness account of Akash Singh along with the evidence supported by medical findings, Police testimony, and other witnesses, pronounced Sancharra and Gopaul, who’d been charged, guilty of the murders. They were sentenced to life imprisonment – with no possibility of parole before 35 years!!
It turns out that Sancharra and Gopaul – along with Akash – had been cultivating marijuana in the Coton Tree backlands, but one day discovered several fields had been trampled and destroyed. They encountered the Henry cousins in the vicinity and accused them of committing the vandalism!! One of them laughed, and the infuriated marijuana criminals turned on them and viciously hacked away at them with cutlasses, killing them on the spot. They then dragged the bodies away from the marijuana fields and dumped them on a dam – where they were discovered by Harish Singh, the 17-year-old grandson of the owner of the land on which Isaiah’s and Joel’s bodies had been found!!
And that’s when the local tragedy was transformed into a national one. The PNC under Granger had just lost the elections five months before, but refusing to accept the verdict of the people and the CCJ, Granger and Harmon ran down to West Berbice. The call for justice for the murdered Henry cousins was transformed to a call for “justice” against the PPP who’d “robbed” them! Granger then divined that the murders were politically motivated – which, as he well knew in Guyana, means that they were RACIALLY motivated!! He advised that the residents of the Henrys’ village should form “self-protection” units – and all hell broke loose!!
Several worked-up persons decided to take the law into their own hands and murdered Haresh Singh in the backdam. For good measure, they burnt his motorcycle, and it was the smoke from this conflagration that alerted relatives to investigate and discover his lifeless body. This was revenge, plain and simple… an eye for two eyes. And it has to be laid at the feet of Harmon and Granger!
Four persons were charged and remanded – including two relatives of the Henrys – but the matter still hasn’t gone to trial. And it is to this tragedy we must now turn our eyes – Harish Singh must also receive justice.
As for Granger and Harmon, they haven’t apologised for their incitement. However, they’ve been discarded on the wayside of history – and hopefully Opposition leaders will be less incendiary.

…vengeance
The demand that the Government renegotiate the Exxon contract for better terms, on its surface, shouldn’t be controversial, should it?? Who doesn’t want more money?? Even Musk – our first TRILLIONAIRE – keeps on pushing for more profits!! But neither of the two major parties – representing 95 per cent of our electorate – wanna renegotiate! What’s up?? Didn’t we put them there to do what’s best for us?? Could it be that keeping the status quo on the contract is “good for us”??
Your Eyewitness is reminded of a historical incident where Henry II was trenchantly criticised by his friend Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. All Henry wanted was for priests to be under civil – not church – law. Even after he compromised, Becket refused to act under the law. Henry muttered, “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?” and was overheard by some courtiers – who proceeded to kill Becket!!
The lesson?? Be careful what you ask for!! Exxon ain’t no Beckett – THEY have friends in very high places!!

…structural support
Your Eyewitness congratulates the Government for not falling for the opposition’s race-baiting by keeping on handing out those rice-subsidy cheques to rice farmers!! Our future lies in agriculture, and it is the Government’s responsibility to make it viable.

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