Some of the men accused of killing American tourist Bakari Henderson outside a Greek nightclub in Zakynthos in July 2017 are set to go on trial for a second time after prosecutors failed to secure convictions at the initial trial.
The trial was set to take place yesterday Wednesday 8 January, however, after jury selection, the judge adjourned the court until Monday.
According to reports, this is to allow a lawyer newly hired by the victim's family to familiarise himself with the case.
Henderson’s mother, Jill, told media she is “hopeful but not optimistic” after none of the nine defendants were found guilty of murdering her son at a trial in November 2018.
The court in Patras has postponed the case until January 13, 2020.
Six of the men, five Serbian nationals and a British man of Serbian origin, had been convicted by a first instance court last year and sentenced to between five and 15 years in prison, but four have since been released. The seventh defendant, a Greek barman, had been acquitted. A public prosecutor had ordered the retrial of all seven, deeming the sentences too lenient.
Bakari Henderson, a 22-year-old from Austin, died in July 2017 after being beaten in the street following an argument in a bar in the Laganas resort area of Zakynthos island.
Henderson travelled to Greece for a photo shoot to promote his new clothing brand. On the night he was killed, the young man visited a bar in Zakynthos, where he took a photo with a lady who worked behind the bar. A man standing near Henderson questioned the woman about why she was talking to a “black man”, a bartender told authorities.
Surveillance video shows a member of a group slamming a bottle onto a table before hitting Henderson in the head. Henderson hit back and then footage from outside of the bar showed Henderson leaving before getting pushed against a parked car by a man in the group. While on the ground, Henderson was punched and kicked repeatedly. Authorities say he died within a minute.