Alpha Henry sounds panicked and out of breath in the 911 call played in a Toronto courtroom Wednesday.
Henry, who has pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murders of his 67-year-old mother Veronica Henry and his 68-year-old father Colin Henry, and not guilty to the attempted murder of Daniel Kwame Henry, is heard on the audio recording from Sept. 21, 2022, telling the operator his brother did it.
“My brother came back from, um, flying, and he came to murder me and my parents,” Alpha can be heard telling the operator.
Alpha asks the operator to send police to 27 Bergamot Ave., apt. 417, and repeats that his brother murdered his parents. When asked what the entry code is to get in, Alpha tells the operator “We don’t have one. We just moved here.” When asked what his phone number is, he replies “I don’t know.”
Alpha tells the operator that his brother came back from flying while he and his parents were worshipping and he got upset and began screaming. “He came in, and he, he didn’t like what we were saying. And he just started to stab us. And now there’s blood everywhere. And he pulled my parents to the washroom. And I’m bleeding …”
Daniel Henry testified on Monday that he worked as a flight attendant at the time. He flew to Japan on the afternoon of Sept. 18, 2022 before returning to Toronto around 5 p.m. on Sept. 20.
That evening, Daniel said he went directly to a high school to attend an Africa Outbound program with friends, and then went to Walmart with a friend to buy snacks before going to see a late movie. Daniel said he only returned home to the apartment he lived in with his parents on Bergamot Avenue around 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 21.
Daniel testified he was then attacked by Alpha, who yelled “die b____.” A struggle ensued before Daniel said he was able to wrestle the knife away from Alpha, escape the apartment and run for help at a nearby gas station where he asked a motorist to call 911.
Court has heard police arrived at the gas station a minute later and placed Daniel under arrest for murder. He was taken to Toronto police 23 Division before being released unconditionally without charges later that afternoon.
Defence lawyer Jamie Kopman cross-examined Daniel on Tuesday and suggested that Daniel came home from his trip to find his parents “doing worship.” Kopman suggested that Daniel got into an argument with his parents because they criticized him for not participating.
“I would suggest it drove you, at some point, to get a knife from the kitchen. I would suggest to you that Alpha leaves the unit to get help and while out of the unit, you’re the one who stabs your parents and you’re the one who pours gasoline on them,” Kopman said.
During the 911 call, Alpha tells the operator that his brother ran away with the knife, that his hand is broken and that his parents are dead in the bathtub. When the operator asks Alpha where his brother is, he replies it’s possible he’s still in the building and gives them a description of his brother.
The operator then asks why he thinks his parents are dead. “He came to murder us,” Alpha says.
The trial continues.