…father of Isaiah Henry recounts the arrest of Joel Henry’s mother and brother
…said police had no reason to arrest and assault
On Tuesday evening, after leaving an event aimed at helping them solve the brutal murders of Isaiah and Joel Henry, Joel’s brother and mother were arrested by the police for failure to produce a physical driver’s license and resisting arrest.
Gladstone Henry, the father of Isaiah, who was present during the arrests said that the matter did not have to escalate to the level it did had the police showed understanding.
Giving his account of what took place, Gladstone said that he left the Brickdam Cathedral where the event was held by Argentine forensic expert, Dr. Luis Fondebrider in the company of his cousin [mother of Joel Henry], Gail Johnson and her son Colwyn Henry.
They entered the vehicle they intended to travel home to West Coast Berbice (WCB) with Colwyn at the wheel, Johnson in the front passenger’s seat and Gladstone in the rear.
On the way, the relatives stopped near the Seawall to purchase burgers, continued again, and stopped for a second time to refuel at a gas station along the way. Soon, they arrived at Sparendaam at a roadblock set up by the police. Colwyn was asked to park the car at the corner of the road and present all documents.
“I don’t know the Officer’s name, he came up and he asked for the documents and when Colwyn presented the documents he asked for everything, registration and these things, the insurance and all these things. Well, he presented all these things to him. So now, he said alright the license. When he [Colwyn] go and check for the license the license was not there. So, he said he didn’t have the license, he forget the license home but he get it [a picture] in his phone and when he opened his phone and show the policeman the license the policeman said he don’t want that,” Gladstone recounted.
He said that it was at this point that the family placed a call to a Senior Police Officer stationed on the WCB, the only person they knew who could render advice. The said senior officer requested to speak with the officer-in-charge, a Corporal who was at the time interacting with the Henry family. However, the Corporal refused to speak to the Commander.
The family was told that if the Senior Officer wished to speak he ought to call the Sparendaam Police Station directly.
According to Gladstone, Colwyn was then told that he would be arrested. Gladstone said that Colwyn refused to be arrested positing that he had all the necessary documents in person, save for his driver’s licence which he produced on his phone. The Driver’s licence showed by Colwyn expires on April 24, 2021.
“So, when he was holding back himself a whole set of them rushed up to he, about four or five of them rushed up to he and hoisted and bring he inside [the police station] and started beating he up and all kind of things because he was resisting arresting,” he said.
During the ordeal, Gladstone said that he kept explaining to the police that the members of the car were the relatives of the butchered teens, Isaiah and Joel Henry and that they were not persons of interest or criminals. He explained that they were headed home from an event at the Brickdam Cathedral which was meant to help the family find closure to the brutal murder of the two teen cousins.
However, his explanation fell on deaf ears. Gladstone said: “I was disappointed because of the matter. I explained and told him the reason why but the man [police corporal] said he don’t care about them things, he doing he work. I said ‘yes you’re doing your work but we’re not criminals or nothing’. He searched the trunk, he do everything, he searched all over and he didn’t get nothing. He could have resolved this matter in a better way.”
During everything, Gladstone said that Johnson was uneasy. He said that she, like him, pleaded with the police informing them that they had no reason to arrest her son. As Colwyn was taken into the station with the men, Johnson and Galdstone followed them in. Gladstone then called the family’s lawyer, Nigel Hughes and President of the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), Mike McCormack.
Sometime after, Gladstone said that Johnson fell to the ground. He said that Colwyn struggled now to get to his mother but the policemen holding him struggled with him and restricted his movement. “After he mother fall down he said he was coming and see he mother and they rushed up to he again and lash he with a baton in he head, about five of them. They chained he up because he was coming to see he mother and they hold him and lashed him in his head,” Gladstone said.
He made reference to the presence of another police officer whom he said has a previous personal issue with Colwyn who was going out of his way to put his hands on Johnson while Colwyn was restrained. “The rest [of the police officers] hold he [the said police] down and he was behaving bad. They had to carry him down there [unknown]. So, if the police behaving like that and I believe there is higher ranks than him, what civilians would do? I am disappointed with this station at Sparendaam. I believe they could have handled this case in a better way…this is the kind of law we get in this country? I was always saying that police is to protect the civilians, to protect us,” Gladstone said.
The families of the late Joel and Isaiah Henry have been through much suffering since the loss of their sons. They have expressed their dissatisfaction with the pace of the ongoing investigation and Gladstone last told the Village Voice News that he was pleased that Dr. Fondebrider was in the country to help.
However, the Crime Chief and Minister of Home Affairs have not yet provided the world-renowned expert with the necessary documents to assist in the investigation and he leaves the country today [December 16, 2020]. Three months have passed since the mutilated bodies of Isaiah and Joel Henry were found, as well as the body of Haresh Singh, another teenager who was killed not far from his home.
“Although we explained, they know what we’re going through. We sons died in the field, in the backdam. We sons were brutally murdered, we’re going through this thing and we’re speaking to this policeman and this policeman said he don’t care ‘bout that. He ain’t care about human life. He ain’t care about what we going through right now, that’s what he said,” Gladstone said. Shortly after he finished giving the account, Johnson fainted again.
