Texas family seeks justice as attackers in son's killing face new trial in Greece

The family of 22-year-old American Bakari Henderson, who was killed by a group of men in Greece five years ago, hopes a retrial of his attackers will provide them with a sense of justice.

Bakari was celebrating his college graduation with friends in the popular Laganas resort area of Zakynthos island in July 2017. The Austin, Texas native, who is Black, took a photo at a nightclub with a white woman, which caused an argument with a nearby group of white men, according to eyewitness testimony.

As the altercation escalated, Henderson ran out of the bar, while the group of one Greek, seven Serbs and a British citizen chased him down in the street and beat him to death. The incident was caught on surveillance video.

Bakari's attackers went on trial in 2018. Six were found guilty of assault by a court and handed five to 15-year sentences, but none were convicted of murder despite video footage and eyewitness testimony. Most of the attackers have since served their sentences and been released.

Bakari's father, Phil Henderson, told CTV's Your Morning the past five years have been difficult for the family.

"We have ups and downs. It's been hard, and we're just thankful that this time we'll get the justice that we've been seeking, but it's been a journey," Phil said Wednesday in a Skype interview from Austin.

The retrial comes after a prosecutor appealed the outcome of the first trial, deeming the assault convictions and subsequent sentences too lenient. The family wants each attacker to serve a life sentence for murder, which in Greece is up to 20 years.

Phil believes Bakari's race played a role in the attack.

"We're hoping that this time the [courts] see Bakari as a human being and a young man that was loved, by not only his family, but friends as well," said Phil. "We're basically hoping that that they see that we're not going to give up until justice is served."

The retrial, which began last week and will continue through the spring, is rare.

Prosecuting a person more than once for the same offence, known as double jeopardy, is prohibited in Greece, but only if a verdict is final.

Since the decision is Henderson's case was appealed by a prosecutor, the verdict is not considered final, thus a new trial can be pursued on the original charges. The same applies in Canada.

The move would not be legal in the U.S., where citizens are not allowed to be tried for the same crime twice.

REMEMBERING BAKARI

Bakari's mother Jill Henderson describes her son as a "big spirit with a big heart." She says the lack of murder convictions in Bakari's death has been a "dark cloud hanging over the family."

"It's hard to continue to move forward until we have justice. So it's like we're kind of at a stalling point," Jill said.

In the wake of Bakari's death, the Henderson family launched The Bakari Foundation, which raises money to offer travel retreats for families who have lost loved ones at the hands of another.

"We also offer them counselling and different types of healing experiences that will help them to move forward, especially wanting to bring together families because siblings are often forgotten," Jill said.

She added that starting the foundation has also helped the Hendersons to heal as a family.

"It helps us continue Bakari's legacy of love, but also helps us to bond with other families because a lot of times you feel isolated," Jill said.

Bakari's sister Jory Henderson says she wants everyone to know just how kind and loving a person her brother was.

"If they [his attackers] would have gotten to know him, they probably would have ended up wanting to be best friends with him and travel with him and know more about him because that's just the type of person he was," Jory said.

"He had a really big heart and cared about others."