THE defence, in its closing statements for the murder trial of Andre Thomas, accused of the 2016 killing of two US missionaries in St Mary, on Wednesday argued that the justice system failed Thomas as investigators were “under political pressure” from the US.

Attorney-at-law Leroy Equiano asserted that police officers assigned to the case needed to charge someone for the double murders and decided on Thomas.

“They were under political pressure. Two white men from the United States were killed. They have to find a solution. They have to look good. So, they turned to Mr Thomas,” he said.

The murder victims, Harold Nichols, 53 and Randy Hentzel, 49, were missionaries for the Pennsylvania-based Teams for Medical Missions. They went missing on Saturday, April 30, 2016 after leaving their Tower Isle, St Mary, homes on motorcycles to visit a site where they would be doing charity work the following week.

When they did not return a search party later that day discovered Hentzel’s body lying face down, his green helmet still over his head, with his arms bound “tightly” behind his back by a piece of cloth torn from the green T-shirt in which he was clad. Nichols’ body was found some distance away on the Sunday afternoon.

In addition to this statement, Equiano argued that the investigating officer’s statement that Thomas had voluntarily taken investigators to the crime scene should be “put into a dump truck and taken down to Riverton City”.

“[There was] nobody there to look after his interest, but he volunteered?” Equiano asked, pointing out that Thomas did not have the advice of an attorney during the visit to the crime scene.

The attorney further reiterated his claim that Thomas was not given the option of speaking with an attorney when he was giving his caution statement and was beaten by police officers while in custody, despite lawmen testifying otherwise.

Additionally, the lawyer further attempted to discredit Dwight Henry’s testimony, who had pleaded guilty to the murders and was sentenced to life in prison. Henry was a key witness for the Crown.

“I was a little shocked… because I didn’t know she [prosecutor] was so brave to tell you that you would have to rely on Dwight Henry in this case,” Equiano said.

Reading Henry’s statement, Equiano said, “Mi just in a di bush, mi just see them an’ mi hate them an’ mi tell him [Hentzel] fi lay down an’ mi shoot him and Baak [Thomas] chop him. Mi shoot them, them took many lives back then.”

“I guess he was proud of what he was saying… This is the opportunity that he had now to take revenge on the men who him hate,” Equiano continued.

He asserted that Henry is not a credible witness because he only testified for his own benefit, since he had requested a plea deal.

However, during her closing argument, the lead prosecutor, in urging the jurors to look at the evidence in the matter, said the Crown grounded their case on Henry’s testimony, as he had revealed that Thomas assisted in the murders and he is now remorseful for the part he played.

The prosecutor also pointed out the inconsistencies between Thomas’s statements in 2016 and his unsworn statement before the jury on Tuesday. The first statement mentioned that Henry confessed to the defendant about the murders, then another statement said he helped tie Hentzel’s hands, and finally on Tuesday Thomas said he only observed as Henry tied Hentzel’s hands, shot him in the head, shot Nichols in the back, then chased him and chopped him with a machete several times. He stated that he waited for 30 minutes for Henry to return to the location where Hentzel was killed.

“How is Henry holding the gun and cutting shirt [to tie Hentzel’s hands]? Him must have more hands than Anancy,” the prosecutor said.

“When Andre Thomas asks you to believe that it was Dwight Henry that ran off on his own… speaking about how all he did was begging Dwight Henry fi ‘low di man dem, and Dwight Henry was telling him he was a chicken and a coward. He’s telling you that for half-an-hour he stayed there waiting, until Henry came back. We are asking you to treat that kind of version with contempt that it deserves,” prosecutor added.

As it relates to the defence’s claims of mistreatment on the part of police officers, the prosecutor said no mention of Thomas being beaten by the police was mentioned before 2023.

The Crown had called 23 witnesses to support its case, while the defence only called Thomas.

The matter is expected to continue in the Supreme Court at 10:00 am today when presiding judge Justice Leighton Pusey is expected to instruct the jury.