AUSTIN, Texas — They may have lost their son, but Jill and Phil Henderson are not losing hope.
- Seven suspects in Bakari Henderson case face retrial
- Henderson died after a beating in Greece in 2017
Seven suspects will face a retrial on murder charges over the death of 22-year-old Bakari Henderson. Henderson died in July 2017, after being beaten on the streets of a Greek island resort.
Last week, a court in Greece found six of nine suspects guilty of deadly assault, a reduced charge. Their prison sentences range from five to 15 years. Henderson’s parents called the verdict “disturbing.”
“You can’t call it a fight, because he could not defend himself. So for a mob of people to chase down an individual and not only hit him, but kick him brutally, while he’s down, is definitely not something that was not intentional. In our mind, it looks like murder,” Jill Henderson said.
Monday, a public prosecutor ordered the retrial of seven men by a more senior panel of judges.
“We felt better once they came back and said they were going to retrial, because we wished they could have gotten it right the first time,” Phil Henderson said.
Bakari Henderson’s parents expect the trial to take place next year and they plan on going back to Greece. They have already been there three times to follow the trial, which they said has been a frustrating and taxing experience.
“We just have to lean on our faith and continue to pray that the outcome will be what we’re hoping and praying for," Jill Henderson said.
In the meantime, Jill and Phil Henderson said they are working on launching their son’s clothing line. Henderson flew out to Greece, in part, because of a photo shoot for that clothing line.
“We just don’t have his spirit, he has such a lively spirit,” Phil Henderson said.
“It’s a void in our family. We were five and now we’re four, so it’s very traumatic as a whole, so we’re still trying to figure out our new normal in life,” Jill Henderson said.