Alleged accomplice rented car days before Collymore murder

The operator of a car-rental company yesterday testified that one of the alleged accomplices in Simone Campbell-Collymore’s murder rented a vehicle from him two days before her murder and days later mentioned the incident when they met to return it.

Defendant Michael Adams, the Home Circuit Court heard, contacted the businessman on December 29, 2017, about 8:00 a.m., requesting a rental for three days.

Less than an hour later, the witness said they met in Harbour View, St Andrew, where a Blue Toyota Yaris was handed over after the contract was signed and payment made.

Days later, after securing a two-day extension, the witness said on January 3, when Adams returned the car, he asked for a further extension but indicated that payment was “a 50-50 chance” as his boss was at the Constant Spring Police Station.

It was during that conversation, the court heard, that the defendant mentioned the shooting, after the witness asked him how payment would be guaranteed since he had not shown up with any cash.

The witness said he then asked why the boss was at the station, and Adams “asked me if I didn’t hear about a shooting that took place on Red Hill Road, where a B got shot and a taxi-man?”

Another man who the witness said had accompanied Adams, added that “the B all dead”.

When asked for a description of Adams’ companion, the witness said he was slim, had fair skin and “pretty hair”.

The description matched another of the alleged accomplices before the court, but the witness said he would not be able to accurately identify the man if he saw him again.

SUSPICIOUS BLUE CAR

Meanwhile, as it relates to the car, the victim’s mother testified earlier in the trial that she had spotted a blue car with two men aboard lurking outside of her Plantation Heights home on New Year’s Day after 1:00 a.m. She said she was outside waiting to be let in after forgetting the gate remote when the car passed her and left but returned and came in front of her car, with the driver winding down his window and looking into her car before leaving.

The 32-year-old businesswoman and mother of two was gunned down outside of her home at the gate of her Stanley Terrace, St Andrew, home on January 2, 2018. Taxi driver Winston Watson, 36, who was transporting her at the time, was also killed in the attack.

Her husband, Omar ‘Best’ Collymore, who is accused of plotting her murder; Adams, Dewayne Pink, and Shaquile Edwards are being tried for two counts each of murder and a count of conspiracy before Justice Leighton Pusey.

During the car-rental operator’s evidence-in-chief, he recalled that he had enquired whether the boss had a licensed firearm, and Adams told him that he did but that the police had seized it.

However, the witness said that Adams never revealed why his boss was at the police station but indicated that his boss had several businesses and that he sold things for him.

EXTENSION ON RENTAL

Earlier in his testimony, he shared that when he first spoke to the defendant, he identified himself as Adams, and when they met, he produced a driver’s licence in the said name.

On New Year’s Day, when the rental expired and Adams contacted him requesting a two-day extension, he was advised to meet the owner at the same location where they first met and to take $11,000, the court also heard.

The witness said when Adams came back, he amended the contract to add two days and changed the expiry date to January 3 at 9:00 a.m. That contract was tendered into evidence.

On January 3, when the rental expired after being told by Adams that he was going to be late, the witness said he made several unsuccessful calls to Adams’ phone.

He also testified that later in the evening, when he eventually got Adams, he told him that he would report the car stolen and have it shut down.

DAMAGE TO CAR

However, the witness said he advised another male who had answered the phone that he was at the University of the West Indies campus and would give them time to drop off the vehicle.

Half an hour later, he said Adams and the male turned up at the campus.

Asked if he inspected the car, the witness said when he checked a day later, he saw that the rim of one of the original tyres had a dent and that it had been replaced with a spare tyre.

Meanwhile, under cross-examination from Adams’ lawyer, Sanjay Smith, the witness denied the suggestion that the defendant never told him that his boss was at the Constant Spring Police Station.

Hit with another suggestion that Adams never told him anything about a shooting, the witness said, “I absolutely disagree!”

Smith then suggested that his client’s conversation with the witness was about a family trip, but the witness said, “I didn’t have a conversation with Adams about his family.”

Earlier in the trial, the victim’s sister told the court that she witnessed a major fight between the couple in which Collymore threatened that he was not going to stop until the family crumbled. The husband’s alleged affair had sparked the dispute in which the court heard that Collymore went crazy, hurling items and smashing goods, including his wife’s two iPhones.

The court also heard that during the dispute, he tried to destroy her Mercedes Benz and that he pinned her against the wall with his lower hand when she tried to reach for his phone.

The sister also disclosed under cross-examination that following that fight, she saw Collymore at a restaurant with a woman and that he told her he was there for a business meeting. However, she asked him if his wife was aware that he was meeting with the woman with whom he was having an affair.

The trial continues today.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com