Source Today Newspaper
GREAT BAY – The Court in First Instance sentenced Renaldo Reo Reymond yesterday to 4 years of imprisonment for importing and selling firearms and soft drugs and for money laundering to the tune of almost $125,000. Reymond’s brother Richard Richinel was sentenced to 2 years with one year conditional. The court terminated his pretrial detention because he has already served a year.
Reymond’s 82-year old father does not have to go back to prison either; the court sentenced him to 540 days, with 310 days suspended and 2 years of probation. The main defendant’s mother Irene Altagracia Fleming (56) was sentenced to 360 days, with 129 days suspended and 2 years of probation.
The Reymond’s had a true weapons arsenal at home. It included 946 rounds of live ammunition for a range of weapons, six pistols (among them two Glocks and two Smith&Wessons), a semi-automatic Draco rifle and a Zastava machine gun. The arsenal was hidden under the father’s bed, in a shed and in a vault.
The court considers Reo Reymond as the main suspect. From the pointe Blanche prison, where he is serving 18 years for a large number of attempted manslaughters he unleashed after the murder of his pregnant wife Deyanida Faynette on May 18, 2014, Reymond organized the import of drugs and weapons from the United States. He ordered his father and brother to make the necessary payments through Moneygram.
The court acquitted Reymond of importing hard drugs for lack of evidence, but it rejected the defense-argument that he is not responsible for the weapons because the charges refer to a period when he was already in prison.
“The defendant has confessed that the weapons were his,” the court ruling states. “He also knew that they were in and around the family’s home at Tokyo Drive and he has asked his brother to relocate one of the weapons.”
The court also rejected the argument that Reymond did not import the Zastava machine gun and a Smith&Wesson 500, saying that he had bought them on the French side. That in itself would substantiate the charge of importing them, the court notes. “”The evidence shows that he bought these weapons in the United States.”
On March 12, investigators confiscated a package that was sent to The Mailbox from the United States. At Reo Reymond’s request, it was addressed to his mother. It contained 700 grams of marijuana.
The court furthermore established that Reymond, in collaboration with his brother and his father, transferred large sums of money to people in the United States through money transfers. “This justifies a suspicion of money laundering,” the ruling states, adding that the defendant has not offered a plausible explanation for the origin of the money. “Considering the cost of living, the legal income of the family cannot explain the origin of the money. That the defendant made a lot of money from the prison with legal internet trade has not been substantiated, nor has it been made plausible.”
“The defendant has committed most of these crimes while he was serving a long prison sentence. Apparently this has not stopped him from committing new crimes,” the court ruling states.
The court holds it against the 27-year old main suspect that he has involved his family bin his criminal activities. “While they freely decided to help him, the defendant has caused a lot of sorrow to his vulnerable brother, his mother and his ageing father by asking for this help,’ the court ruling states.
The court said that it is aware of the terrible things that have happened in the defendant’s life – a reference to the murder of his wife in 2014. “But this is not a justification for committing the crimes that have been proven.”
The public prosecutor demanded 7 years against Reymond at the trial on December 7, but the court arrived at a lower sentence, due to the acquittal for importing hard drugs.
The court found Richard Reymond guilty of having the weapons at his disposal, of importing a firearm and of money laundering. The 24-year old suffers from psychological and physical ailments and in strongly under his brother’s influence. The court ordered supervision by the probation office to facilitate mandatory psychiatric treatment.
Reymond’s 82-year old father Victor is guilty of weapons and ammunition possession and money laundering, the court ruled. “The defendant consciously supported his son Reo in his criminal activities. He did not open up and attempted to get away from the responsibility for his actions,” the ruling states. The court considered that the octogenarian has never before had any brushed with the law and it also took his fragile health into consideration.
Reymond’s mother Irene Flemming is guilty of weapons and ammunition possession, the court ruled. She did not cooperate with the investigation either and also attempted to get away from her responsibility for her actions, the ruling states.
