By Latrishka Thomas
Murder accused Akeem Henry is now a step closer to being sentenced.
Despite pleading guilty to fatally shooting Keon Carr on December 27, 2019, several months ago, the matter was not yet over.
Earlier this month, the prosecution called on the victim’s mother, Brenda Furlong, to tell the court how her son’s death has affected her, but even after the woman broke down on the stand, the Judge still could not proceed to sentencing the Green Bay man because the accused disagreed with one particular part of the facts, as told by the prosecution.
In the sequence of events laid out by the prosecution, Henry went to the home of a friend on December 26, 2019, and during their conversation Henry told him that he intends to “knock down Keon” because he took his weed and doesn’t want to pay.
Henry also showed his friend a gun and a magazine with five rounds, and his friend tried to convince him to rethink his decision.
The following day, sometime after 7:00 pm, a number of men were sitting outside a bar on Christian Street in Gray’s Farm, and Carr later joined them.
Not long after, the defendant went up to the men and shot Carr four times in his
neck, back, right forearm and chest.
A post mortem revealed that the bullet to his back penetrated the lung and traveled internally, causing damage to his liver.
The police were able to retrieve surveillance footage from a building close to the bar that showed the defendant in the area purchasing something to eat at around 7:24 pm.
Four minutes later, he was seen standing at the side of a building with his body almost fully hidden, looking in the direction of the bar.
At 7:34 pm, Carr emerged from a nearby yard, arriving at the bar within seconds.
It was about seven minutes later that Henry began walking towards the bar, and he was seen running away two minutes later.
Four days after the shooting, the defendant again went to the home of his friend and admitted to killing Carr.
He asked the friend to hold on to the gun, but the friend said no, that he will think about it.
His friend told the police what he knew in February 2020, but when arrested and questioned, Henry denied committing the serious crime, but he shared that both he and the deceased sold weed for the same individual.
Subsequently, after he was told by an officer to come clean because there is evidence against him, Henry confessed and took the officers to Perry Bay to show them where in the ocean he’d thrown the murder weapon.
Henry, in his statement, said that Carr had looked at him and smiled, so he “did what he had to do.”
When probed for details on why he did it, the young man maintained that Carr was watching him for five to ten minutes and had smiled at him, and he interpreted that to mean that he would have done something to him.
The point which the defense sought to challenge was in relation to Henry’s friend’s statement.
The friend was therefore put on the stand yesterday and questioned.
He told the court that he knew Henry for over ten years, and Carr for about the same amount of time.
He said that he would smoke and drink with the accused and the deceased from time to time and considered both of them to be his friends.
According to him, on the day before the murder, Henry came to check him and “show me a likkle vibe bout some weed business, and he tell me he go knock dung Keon.”
The witness said that in street terms that meant to kill, and having known that, he begged Henry not to because he was friends with both men.
He proceeded to share that on the day after the incident, Henry came back to his house to “show me dat he knock down the man.”
“He show me the vibe and he show me the gun and he tell me he shot the man four time,” the witness said. He described the gun as being a “black .25.”
“Me just feel sad a talk bout it still,” he muttered.
Henry’s Attorney Wendel Robinson cross examined the witness suggesting that the witness gave a false statement to the police two months after the incident because of his close relationship with a police officer and the victim’s mother.
The man denied lying but could not give the court a straight answer when asked why he waited for such a long time and about the nature of his relationship with the victim’s mother.
The accused then took the stand and told the court that he and the previous witness were no longer close and that he had not been to his house for years.
He also stated that the firearm he used was not black.
Justice Colin Williams found the witnesses to be “cagey, dodgy and unreliable.”
He therefore stated that he will only consider every other piece of information given as he prepares for sentencing.
Henry will be sentenced on June 10.