Nearly six years after the savage murders of West Coast Berbice cousins Joel Henry and Isaiah Henry shocked the nation and plunged parts of Guyana into violent unrest, convicted killers Anil “Dan Pole” Sancharra and Vinod “Magga” Gopaul were on Wednesday sentenced to life imprisonment by the Berbice High Court.
Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall imposed the life sentences after both men were found guilty by a 12-member jury in June 2026 of the September 2020 killings. Under the court’s ruling, neither man will be eligible for parole until serving at least 35 years behind bars.
The sentencing brings a measure of legal closure to one of the most horrific and emotionally charged murder cases in Guyana’s recent history.
Joel Henry, 19, and his 16-year-old cousin Isaiah Henry disappeared on September 5, 2020, after leaving home to pick coconuts in the Cotton Tree backlands, West Coast Berbice. Their mutilated bodies were discovered the following day bearing multiple chop wounds, a gruesome scene that horrified the country and sparked nationwide condemnation.
The killings triggered days of protests and unrest along the West Coast Berbice corridor, with residents blocking roads and demanding swift justice amid widespread criticism that the investigation was progressing too slowly.
Sancharra, of D’Edward Village, West Coast Berbice, and Gopaul, of Yakusari, Black Bush Polder, Corentyne, were jointly charged with the murders in January 2021. A third accused, Akash Singh, known as “Monkey,” who was initially charged, later became the prosecution’s principal witness.
The trial, which began before Justice Morris-Ramlall in May 2026, featured testimony from approximately 45 witnesses presented by State Prosecutor Marisa Edwards, including Government Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh, 16 police officers and relatives of the slain teenagers.
Central to the prosecution’s case was the testimony of Singh, who told the court he accompanied Sancharra and Gopaul to a marijuana camp in the Cotton Tree backlands when the Henry cousins unexpectedly encountered them.
According to Singh, the teenagers had allegedly discovered a marijuana farm that had recently been sprayed. He testified that following an exchange, Sancharra and Gopaul launched a brutal attack, fatally chopping both cousins with cutlasses.
Singh further told the court he was forced to assist in disposing of the bodies and destroying evidence before being threatened into silence.
Throughout the trial, both Sancharra and Gopaul denied any involvement in the murders. They insisted they were never at the scene and accused Singh of fabricating his account to save himself.
The jury, however, rejected their defence, returning unanimous guilty verdicts after more than two hours of deliberations.
Wednesday’s sentencing closes a painful chapter in a case that has remained etched in the national consciousness since the brutal slayings in September 2020, when the murders exposed deep public frustration over violent crime and fuelled one of the most volatile periods of civil unrest in recent years.
