‘Fight for the knife’: Ontario man testifies in trial of brother accused of murdering their parents

Daniel Henry sat in the witness box in a Toronto courtroom across from his brother Alpha Henry Monday and recalled the horror of arriving home at the Etobicoke apartment he shared with his parents, Veronica and Colin Henry, around 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 21, 2022.

He noticed the TV and a light were on, furniture was pushed towards the balcony and there was the smell of varnish. Daniel said he also saw a figure to his left, a man he identified as his brother, Alpha.

“He had a knife held above his head, used the words ‘die b—-‘ and proceeded to bring it down towards my torso. I was able to intercept his hand. That led to a tussle and a fight for the knife,” said Daniel, motioning with his right hand when assistant crown attorney Michael Wilson asked him to demonstrate what he saw.

“We fell to the ground. I got to the knife, went to the front door, tried to exit and get to safety. He used his body to block the front entrance. I attempted to open the lock and I was screaming for help. I was screaming, ‘Why are you doing this?'”

Daniel testified his older brother did not answer saying he had a menacing look on his face.

Daniel said he managed to get out of the apartment and run down the hallway banging on doors begging for someone to help, before making his way down a stairwell to the ground floor. He ran out of the building on Bergamot Avenue, in Toronto, and across the parking lot to a nearby Esso gas station where he saw someone pumping gas and asked them to call 911.

“I was dishevelled, concerned about what had happened as well as the state of my parents,” Daniel explained saying he had no idea where they were.

He recalled hearing his brother also banging on doors in the hallway of the building, yelling for help behind him as he fled.

Daniel said when police arrived at the gas station, he was arrested, put in the back of a cruiser and taken to 23 Division. It wasn’t until 3 or 4 p.m. the following day he said he was finally released.

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“They treated me as a criminal that had committed murder — it was appalling. My understanding was, there was no evidence to sustain these charges so I was not impressed,” Daniel added. He said it was only as he was about to be released that he found out his parents had died.

Daniel, who worked as a flight attendant, testified he had flown to Japan on Sept. 18 and saw his parents just before he left and texted her just before he left to which she responded. It was the last night he heard from his mom.

Upon his return from Japan on the afternoon of Sept. 20, he attended a program with friends at an Etobicoke high school, and drove to Walmart to get snacks before going to see a movie. After driving a friend home, he went back to the apartment where the violent scuffle ensued.

Wilson told Justice Joan M. Barrett in his opening address at the judge-alone trial, that at almost the same time that Daniel called 911, Alpha also made a 911 call. “He told the operator it was Daniel who came into the apartment, stabbed his parents and put their bodies into the bathtub.”

Wilson said when police officers arrived at the 4th-floor apartment, they found Alpha cut and bleeding on various parts of his body. Alpha, said Wilson, repeated that Daniel had attacked him and his parents. Officers went to the bathroom and found the couple in the bath, their bodies soaked in gasoline and there was an overwhelming smell. Both parents were dead. Wilson said the evidence will show “it was clear that these individuals had been dead for some time.”

They had both been stabbed.

Wilson said Alpha Henry repeated the same version of events when he gave a 90-minute video statement to police after his arrest. “We will be asking your honour to find Alpha Henry’s version of events is an obvious fabrication,” said Wilson.

Daniel testified his older brother had lived with him and his parents on the second floor of a house near Finch Avenue and Highway 27 from December 2020 until May 2022 after his mother signed as a surety for Alpha, in which one of the conditions was that he had to live with her pending his trial for a string of petty crimes. Daniel described Alpha’s relationship with his parents as verbally and physically abuse, and not contributing financially nor doing household chores. His relationship was also “strained” as a result.

He testified Alpha was not on the lease and did not have a fob to get into the building. “It was a little bit disappointing but at the same time, relief we wouldn’t have this headache anymore.”

“My mother was worried he wouldn’t have a place to be and she was homeless. She ended up finding a room close to Dundas and Runnymede,” said Daniel who testified he helped move him in May. But by July, there was an altercation with the landlady and ultimately, she didn’t want him living there.

Daniel testified that, in August, the family got a phone call from their church that Alpha’s red suitcase was there.

“There was a play station, a small TV and a few articles of his brother’s clothing,” he told the court.

He said he didn’t know where his brother was living but said sometime in late August or early September, they saw Alpha walking on the same street as the church where his father tended to the garden.

“We said, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ He said he was going to a friend’s house. On the way back, we saw him walking and asked him if he needed a ride. He threw expletives at us. He told my father to ‘f— off.'”

“Any idea why he was angry?” asked Wilson. Daniel said he did not know, adding he never saw nor communicated with his brother again.

The court saw video surveillance of a man behind the Bergamot Avenue building tossing what appeared to be a duffel bag and other items in a dumpster around 3 p.m. on September Sept. 19. Daniel identified that man as his brother. Later that same day, a man is seen on video at the nearby Esso gas station buying 5 litres of gasoline in a jerry can. Daniel also identified that man as Alpha and a video was shown of a man at a Canadian Tire on September 20th. Daniel said again, it was Alpha.

Photos taken by forensic investigators from inside the apartment where Daniel lived with his parents showed a red jerry can for gasoline. Wilson asked about the gas container. Daniel said it wasn’t something his parents would normally keep in the suite.

Wilson told the judge video surveillance would also be shown capturing Alpha entering the Bergamot Avenue building in the afternoon of Sept. 19 using his mother’s key fob and evidence will show Veronica Henry missed her daily prayer call on Sept. 19.

“Did she ever miss her daily prayer call with Janet?” “Rarely,” Daniel replied.

Alpha Henry has pleaded not guilty to all three charges. The trial continues.