PHILIPSBURG – The Solicitor General asked on Wednesday, June 8, for jail sentences of 25 years for the suspects R.C.T.A. ( Rolando “Flamingo” Arrindell ) and R.R.R. (Renaldo Reno Reymond), during the appeal case that was brought in front of the Common Court of Justice.
The two were sentenced in August 2015, by the Court of First Instance to 18 and 16 years of prison respectively, for multiple cases of attempted murder, and manslaughter, which were mostly committed in the Dutch Quarter area, and possession of illegal firearms.
One of their victims was paralyzed for life. The two suspects allegedly drafted a “death list” of persons who they held responsible for the violent death of R.’s girlfriend on March 18, 2014.
The Solicitor General believed attempted murder multiple times, including against two police officers, was proven for both suspects, as well as possession of illegal firearms, and asked for 25 years in prison.
In the Court of First Instance, the Prosecutor had asked for 21 years in jail for both suspects.
The Joint Court of Justice will give its verdict on June 29.
Demand 25 years for seven attempts at murder
Today Newspaper Court Story
GREAT BAY – Solicitor-General Ton van der Schans demanded 25 years of imprisonment yesterday against Reo Renald R. and Rolando Cicil Trevor A. aka Flamingo for a series of seven attempted murders that took place after the killing of Reo R.s pregnant girlfriend Deyanida Faynete on March 18, 2014. In first Instance, Reo R. was sentenced to 16 years and Flamingo got an 18-year sentence. A third suspect, the girlfriend of Flamingo, was acquitted in first Instance of being an accessory to the crimes.
This is a review of the charges against the two defendants. They explain why Flamingo initially netted a higher sentence because he fired shots at two female police officers when they came to arrest him on March 7 of last year at his home on Raspberry Road in St. Peters.
Flamingo fired shots over a wall at one officer from a distance of about one meter and the bullet just missed the officer’s head. He also fired shots at a colleague of her. The prosecution has qualified these events as attempted murder.
The shooting with the most serious consequences took place on July 24, 2014, when Flamingo and Renald R. drove up Zorg and Rust Road in Dutch Quarter towards Illidge Road where they spotted their target, Ronny Samuel Brown.
The two would-be killers were after Brown because, it appears from a witness statement, R. assumed that Brown knew about the plan to kill him and his girlfriend on March 18, 2014, but that he did not say anything about it. At one time, Brown was friends with Flamingo but that relationship tanked when Brown refused to help him killing someone.
Brown was talking to a girl called Sasha when the car approached. The girl smelled danger and shouted loot out, before running away. According to Brown, Renald R. shot him from the backseat of the car. The victim as hit in his back, hip, arm and elbow. He was flown in critical condition to Colombia for medical treatment but with limited results. The lower part of his body is paralyzed and he will never be able to walk again.
Flamingo and Renald R. began their murderous spree two months after the death of Faynete. On May 16, 2014, R. fired shots at a passing car, but he did not manage to hit the driver, G.G. or his passenger, W.M.
On July 20, 2014 R. took aim at his next victims F.K. and his sister E.A. by firing shots at the window of a bedroom in their home on the Illidge Road.
Four days later R.’s co-defendant Flamingo fired several shots at S.R.B. and J.M.P. and these targets also escaped with their lives.
A week later, on July 31, Renald R. made an attempt on the life of A.R. – again without success.
After this shooting incident things calmed down until February 28 of this year when Flamingo made a second attempt on the life of F.L., who was passing by on Illidge Road on a quad bike in the company of his girlfriend J.M.
On March 7, Flamingo put the cream on the criminal cake by firing shots at the heads and body of two police officers.
It did not help him though, because he was arrested that day. Flamingo has quite a reputation in St. Maarten, for instance as a member of the Scary Movie Gang that terrorized the island in 2005 with a spate of armed robberies. He served 5.5 years for his role in the robberies this gang committed. In April 2007, he escaped from the Pointe Blanche prison during the grand carnival parade, but he was recaptured and punished with an additional year behind bars.
Reo R. is also a suspect in the Efeze-investigation into the trade in drugs and weapons and into money laundering. For this case police arrested in May the 81-year old father of Reo r., V.R., his wife I.F. (56) and his son R.R. (23). Reo r. was arrested as a suspect in the prison and his cell was searched.
