Accused St Mary farmer says missionaries' murder was 'a mistake'

The St Mary farmer, who is claiming that he and his cousin murdered the two United States missionaries in St Mary in 2016, said they had no reason for killing the men and had described the crime as a mistake.

The convicted killer, Dwight Henry, 33, who is currently serving a life sentence in relation to the missionaries’ murder, made the admission yesterday during the murder trial of his "far" cousin, Andre Thomas in the Home Circuit Court.

Henry, the prosecution’s main witness, was responding to a question from the jury which was posed by Justice Leighton Pusey, moments before completing his evidence in the trial.

“What was the reason why you attacked and killed them, was it robbery or something else,” the judge asked.

“My Lord, we did it for no reason, we were so foolish, My Lord, and we made a mistake, that’s why I wish to tell the court the whole truth about it 'cause I feel so sad about it,” said Henry, who appeared apologetic and whose voice cracked as he responded to a question.

Henry also extended an apology to the court and to the families of the deceased men.

The prosecution witness had pleaded guilty to two counts of murder in January under a plea deal and was sentenced to 28 years to life.

Harold Nichols, 53, and Randy Hentzel, were found dead in Wentworth district, St Mary, between April 30 and May 1.

Hentzel’s body was found in bushes with a gunshot to the back of his head and his hands bound behind him while Nichols’ body was found some distance away in a pool of water with a gunshot to his chest and six chops wounds to his head.

Both men had left their homes on separate motorbikes to visit a site where they would be working on a home as part of their charitable services in the parish.

Earlier, during his evidence-in-chief, Henry told the court that he was responsible for killing one of the men and that he did so by shooting him in the back of the head while his cousin shot the other man in his chest and also chopped him in his head more than once.

“I kill one and Andre kill one, I never force him to do it, him do it all off him own free will,” Henry claimed.

In the version that he gave the court, he said he and Thomas were picking [coconut] jelly in the bushes on the day of the murder when his cousin stopped the men at gunpoint.

Henry said he ordered one of the men to lie down on the ground and bound his hands behind him with a piece of cloth from the man’s shirt.

According to him, the other man ran off but was fired on by Thomas. Henry said the man, while being chased by both of them, fell into a pool of water and was shot in the chest by Thomas, who also chopped him in the head more than once.

Henry said they then returned to where the first man was tied up and Thomas gave him the gun and he shot him in the back of his head once.

However, during cross-examination from Thomas’ lead lawyer, Leroy Equiano, the court heard that Henry had given the police a caution statement in which he admitted to killing both men and made a similar admission in his question-and-answer session.

The court also heard that Henry had told police that he hated white people and that a family member had told him about the bad things that they use to do to black people.

However, Henry when asked about some of the utterances and inconsistencies between the testimony and what he had told the police, claimed he could not recall in some instances and, in others, gave the lawyer the silent treatment.

But, during re-examination yesterday, when asked why he had told the police that he shot both men but testified to killing only one man in court, he insisted that he was coming clean about what had truly transpired and felt bad about his actions.

He was also asked to indicate which sequence of the murder was truthful since he had first told the police that he was the one who first shot and killed one of the men.

But Henry, in reply, said the truth was that Thomas first fired at one of the men when he ran and, after they chased him, he was killed by Thomas. Following that, he said, he shot and killed the other man.

The trial will continue today.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com