OAN Staff Abril Elfi
11:52 AM – Saturday, August 2, 2025
Three men who escaped from a police station in Grenada and were later accused of killing an elderly American couple aboard their catamaran have been sentenced.
On Wednesday, Ron Mitchell, a sailor who was accused of leading the attack, was given two life sentences for the murders of Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel.
One of Mitchell’s accomplices, Atiba Stanislaus, received 60 years for manslaughter, nearly 18 years for the rape of Brandel, and additional time for a range of other crimes including kidnapping.
Trevon Robertson was sentenced to 56 years for manslaughter and received other penalties for separate charges, according to local media reports.
The New Today, a Grenadian newspaper, reported that prosecutors alleged the men bound and gagged the couple before throwing them overboard. Mitchell was accused of steering the vessel over Hendry. The victims’ bodies were never recovered.
The three men had escaped from the South Saint George Police Station in late February 2024, according to police. The following day, they hijacked the catamaran Simplicity, which was later discovered in nearby St. Vincent, where the men were arrested.
Hendry and Brandel, described as “veteran cruisers” by the Salty Dawg Sailing Association, were longtime members of the group. The nonprofit said the couple had been spending the winter sailing throughout the eastern Caribbean.
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