Deadly promise!

A DAY before businesswoman Simone Campbell-Collymore was gunned down at her gate, her husband Omar Collymore reportedly told his ex-mistress that he was leaving his wife and that they would be together soon.

The defendant, who is accused of plotting his wife’s murder, is being tried for the double murder in the Home Circuit Court, along with Michael Adams, Dewayne Pink, and Shaquille Edwards.

The court heard that on the day of the shooting, Collymore called his ex-mistress seven times, trying to persuade her to rekindle their affair and that the last call was placed less than an hour before Campbell-Collymore was killed.

The witness said her ex-lover’s desire was for him to wake up beside her in the mornings.

Collymore and his Kingston lover, a gym trainer, reportedly ended their three-year-old affair two months before the 32-year-old businesswoman was killed in a brazen daylight attack along with taxi driver Winston ‘Corey’ Walters on January 2, 2018.

The woman, who had started an ice cream business with Collymore and his friend, testified yesterday in the Home Circuit Court that they broke up in October 2017 after Collymore sent her a text asking her if she would be happy if he left her alone and she answered in the affirmative.

According to her, before the separation, from August leading up, there had been constant quarrels and fights about the situation with his wife and about her desire to end the relationship.

However, she said Collymore did not want her to leave as he wanted a life with her.

She further testified that even after they ended the relationship, he kept calling her trying to patch up the relationship and that they met up more than once.

The woman reportedly met Collymore at one of the gyms where she was freelancing and entered into a relationship with him about a week later.

However, the witness told the court that at the time she did not know that he was married and found out about it a month later when she confronted him about his status.

When asked how she learnt about his marriage status, she said, “His actions, the lies couldn’t play out anymore.”

Asked if Collymore had shared any details with her about his marriage, she said he briefly indicated that “it was not working out and he is just there for the kids”.

Going back to testimony about the breakup, the woman testified that after they ended things, he asked to see her in December and when she met with him on December 17, he started to ask her to refund him the money he had invested in the ice cream business.

NOT POSSIBLE

The witness said she told him that she would need to process it because it was not possible.

She recalled that Collymore then switched the conversation to their relationship, apologising and asking for another chance, but she told him no.

Another meeting, she recollected occurred on December 22, where they met at a restaurant and were interrupted by Simone’s sister.

Simone’s sister previously testified that when she asked Collymore why he was there he told her it was a business meeting, but she asked if his wife was aware that he was meeting with the woman with whom he was having an affair.

Besides that meeting, the witness said Collymore visited her at her apartment with his son and a bottle of wine on the evening of December 31 and stayed there until 1 a.m. During that time, she said he was still trying to persuade her to stay in the relationship.

It was then that he told her that he was getting a divorce and would be available soon, she told the court.

Asked if she knew how soon, she said in the new year.

Turning to the day, Campbell-Collymore was killed, the witness said that after the calls from Collymore stopped she called him at 7:29 p.m., and was told that his wife had been shot.

FROZEN FROM SHOCK

Collymore later updated her with news that his wife did not survive.

Asked how she responded to the news about the shooting, the witness said she froze.

However, she further testified that Collymore later called her telling her that his mother-in-law had accused him of killing her daughter and that he did not like it and needed her help.

But, she said she asked him, “What the hell am I supposed to do about it,” and opted not to call him back, although he had asked her to call him back in 10 minutes.

She said he kept trying to call her and had also asked his friend to call but she ignored him.

During cross-examination from Collymore’s lawyer Diane Jobson, the witness admitted that she never mentioned anything about Collymore divorcing his wife in her statement and denied a suggestion that she wanted him to divorce his wife.

She also denied benefiting financially from the relationship. Still, she admitted that Collymore had been paying her rent and that he had taken her on overseas trips including to Miami, where they stayed at the couple’s house.

When pressed about how much Collymore had invested in her business, the witness maintained that she could not recall the amount, nor could she recall the amount that she placed in the business or the amount of money she spent to buy equipment or the rent.

She also claimed they never discussed what the start-up amount would be.

The witness during cross-examination admitted that Collymore had asked for his name to be removed from the company before it started and that his friend pulled out shortly after they disagreed.

The business, which started in 2016, was wound up in June 2108 according to the witness who told the court that she still could not recall how much was invested in the account.

The witness also shared that Campbell-Collymore had called and messaged her several times, but she said they had never spoken.

The trial will continue today.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com