MANDEL: Accused Rexdale killer points finger at his brother

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Daniel Henry was the golden son – the first in his family to graduate university, a world-travelling flight attendant who was working towards his commercial pilot’s licence.

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But his troubled brother Alpha Henry wanted Toronto Police to believe that it was that golden child – and not himself – who should be under arrest for the gruesome double murder of their parents.

In the bathtub of their Rexdale apartment, police had found the bodies of Colin and Veronica Henry – both had been stabbed and doused in gasoline.

At about 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 21, 2022, Daniel Henry had come back to the apartment at 27 Bergamot Ave. that he shared with his parents after returning from Japan that afternoon and spending the evening with friends. He told court that his brother, who was homeless, was there and suddenly came at him with a knife.

During their struggle, Daniel said he managed to wrestle the knife away and after banging on doors for help, ran to a nearby gas station and had a motorist call 911.

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At the same time, Alpha called 911 from the apartment and told the operator that his brother had killed their parents. Daniel was arrested – but later that afternoon, it was Alpha who was under arrest for two murders and his brother who was freed.

At his judge-alone trial, Alpha, 30, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and the attempted murder of his brother.

Throughout his 90-minute police interview played in court, Alpha maintained his innocence – and continued to point the finger at his bro – even as Det. Michael McGinn was increasingly skeptical of his bizarre story.

He told him he and his parents were waiting up for him and watching TV when Daniel came home from his Japan flight angry and swearing.

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“He’s a very aggressive type,” Alpha told him.

He said Daniel got into an argument with their mother for “smart talking” him, criticizing how he was serving people when he should be in the captain’s seat. Then “he start attacking her,” he said. “He’s trying to kill her.”

When he then turned on him, Alpha fled the apartment and while knocking on doors for help, he said he spotted Daniel running out toward the stairwell with a knife.

He told McGinn he needed stitches from a slice wound to his hand.

“Daniel did that,” he told him. “I’m the victim.”

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But how did the bodies of his parents end up in the bathtub?

“He woulda did it,” Alpha said of his brother. “He got a lot of time. Before, when he’s stabbing them, bring them in the washroom.”

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The Crown alleges Alpha had actually killed his parents on Sept. 19 at about noon and the bodies had been in the bathtub for much longer than his story would suggest.

McGinn challenged his account – what would make his brother suddenly so angry? Why was Daniel injured? How could he have possibly stabbed his parents and moved them into the bathroom in the three or four minutes that Alpha said he left him in the apartment?

Asked if he’d gone anywhere earlier that day, Alpha told him he’d gone to the store for some snacks but that was all.

McGinn then confronted him with stills from a video that showed him filling two red cannisters with gas – and told him the empty canisters had been found in the apartment with his blood on one of them.

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“What were you doing with two gas cans the previous day?” the detective demanded.

“It’s a sale,” Alpha replied, adding that he was saving the gas for his brother’s car.

McGinn wasn’t buying it: “I think that you’re the person who ended up killing them.”

“No I never, ever, ever done that,” he insisted. “I love my parents.”

Crown attorney Michael Wilson took McGinn to evidence extracted from the mother’s cellphone on the night of Sept. 19 – hours after prosecutors believe Alpha killed her.

Someone using the phone of the devout Seventh-Day Adventist was texting with escort agencies about prices for sex.

The trial continues.

mmandel@postmedia.com

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