Collymore, contract killer in constant communication ahead of wife's murder, phone data shows

Phone data evidence showed that there was continuous communication between Barbados-born businessman Omar Collymore and the alleged contract killer in the days leading up to his wife’s murder.

The data also showed a pattern where Collymore would often call his wife, Simone Campbell-Collymore, before calling or attempting to make contact with the alleged contract killer, defendant Michael ‘Crayboss’ Adams, often in the space of a minute.

Of note, the calls or attempted calls between the men, which started on December 29, 2017, started in the morning and continued into the night.

The murder however occurred on January 2, but the trial had heard previously from one of the shooters, Wade Blackwood, that a first attempt was made on the wife’s life before they succeeded.

According to Blackwood, who previously pleaded guilty to the murder and is currently serving a life sentence, he called off the attempt after he saw Campbell- Collymore and had an attack of conscience.

"I was imagining say if a my mother or sister," he had testified.

Similarly, the data also revealed that the contract killer made several calls to his co-defendants and alleged accomplices following the calls from Collymore in the days leading up to the murder.

The 32-year-old woman was shot 19 times at the gate of her Stanley Terrace, St Andrew apartment on January 2, 2018.

Taxi driver Winston 'Corey' Watson, 36, who was transporting her at the time, was also killed in the attack. He sustained five shots, including a fatal wound to his head.

Collymore, who is accused of orchestrating her murder, is currently on trial on two counts of murder in the Home Circuit Court along with his alleged accomplices, Adams, Dwayne Pink and Shaquilla Edwards.

A forensic expert witness, who had analysed the phone and cell site data, which he received from the island's two mains service providers, during his evidence shared the data which showed a consistent pattern of communication between Collymore and the alleged contract killer and among the alleged contract killer and his alleged accomplices.

The deputy superintendent of police, who is attached to the constabulary force's Communication, Forensics and Cybercrime Division as a forensic data analyst, shared that on December 29, 2017, the calls or attempted call between Collymore and Adams started at 11:42, a minute after Collymore called or attempted to call his wife.

From the phone evidence presented, Collymore made or attempted several calls to his wife at different times in the afternoon, following which, he made or attempted several calls to Adams, who then placed several calls to either Pink or Edwards.

There were also several instances in which Adams would attempt or make a call to Collymore, most of the calls however lasted only milliseconds. The witness, when asked to explain this, said the data suggest that Adams would often ring Collymore’s phone for him to return the call.

The expert witness also testified that Collymore would often use his local number to call his wife and used both his local and international numbers to communicate with Adams.

A similar pattern of communication was also observed among the men on December 30. However, while the calls on December 29 went up to 9: 56 p.m., the calls on December 30 started much earlier at 7:08 p.m. between Collymore and Adams and ended at 11: 33 p.m., two minutes after Collymore attempted to make or made contact with his wife.

A former police officer, who had extracted call record information from two of Collymore’s cellular phones, testified earlier that Collymore, in one of the voice messages sent to a man with whom he had been in constant communication in the days leading up to his wife's murder, was heard urging the person “to hurry up” and to “ do it this morning”.

The trial continues today.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com