Six out of nine defendants indicted in the beating death of US tourist Bakari Henderson on the holiday island of Zakynthos in July 2017 were found guilty on Thursday by a court in the city of Patras, on charges of deadly bodily injury while in a “calm mental state”, i.e. a type of manslaughter under Greece’s criminal code.
A prosecutor had recommended to justices and jurors that six defendants be found guilty of complicit homicide with intent, and lesser convictions for the other three.
Sentences ranged from 15 years to nine year of prison time, as the nine avoided life sentences.
The other three defendants, two 23-year-olds and a 35-year-old, were initially found guilty of simple assault, but were eventually acquitted.
The sentences were not suspended pending appeals, while the indictment will be conveyed to a prosecutor on Zakynthos regarding the club owner where the initial altercation began.
An attorney’s representing the victim’s parents, who were in the courtroom on Thursday, said her clients will file an appeal with the Patras first instance prosecutor’s office against the decision, which they judged as too lenient.
