Screaming tattoo artist guilty of looting and ill-treatment

PHILIPSBURG – The sentencing hearing of tattoo artist Rikinaldo Francisco Murray did not go according to plan on Wednesday afternoon because the 46-year old defendant lost it when he realized that he was also going to be sentenced on appeal by the Common Court of Justice. Murray kept interrupting the judge while she was reading the verdict. When he got up from his chair, guards entered the courtroom and took him back to the holding cell at the courthouse where he continued arguing even until after the guard locked the door on him.

The appeals court upheld the verdict of the Court in First Instance of November 8, 2017: 9 months of imprisonment and the payment of 500 guilders in damages to his mother.

The court found Murray guilty of looting and of ill-treating his mother.

Murray was arrested in September of last year and he has almost served his complete sentence. He nevertheless appealed the verdict. “I did not loot or fence anything and the thing with my mother was a misunderstanding,” he told the court at the trial on April 5.

Investigators found TVs, phones, a fridge and other electronics at the defendant’s home on Carnation Road in September. “These are personal belongings; I’ve had them for years,’ the defendant claimed.

He said that he had bought the TVs with money he got from selling his motorbike. The appeals court found that these are no verifiable documents that support this statement.

On Wednesday he loudly repeated his claim of innocence, shouting at the judge that the police had “taken my stuff.”

On August 22 of last year, Murray, under the influence of a Molly-pill, stormed into his mother’s bedroom jumped on top of her and caused bruises to her arm; then he went into the living room where he destroyed items belonging to his mom.