Lawyer says no proof client was involved in murder plot

Dwayne Pink’s lawyer yesterday urged the jury to find him not guilty of the murder of Simone Campbell-Collymore and Winston Walters while arguing that the prosecution has failed to present any evidence to prove that Pink was involved in the deadly plot.

Attorney-at-law Earnest Davis, during his closing address yesterday in the Home Circuit Court, submitted that the prosecution had not presented any evidence tying his client to the murders and murder conspiracy of the 32-year-old businesswoman and the 36-year-old taxi driver.

The duo was shot and killed on January 2, 2018, by men who rode up on motorcycles outside Collymore’s apartment in Red Hills, St Andrew.

Businessman Omar Collymore, who is accused of orchestrating the murder for his wife’s life insurance money, is being tried along with alleged contract killer Michael Adams, Shaquilla Edwards, and Pink.

On the prosecution’s case, Pink was one of the men who monitored Campbell-Collymore’s movements in the days leading up to her murder. He is also said to have been working closely with Adams and on the day of her death, travelled downtown with Adams and trailed the woman home.

However, Davis argued that most of the evidence presented was circumstantial and warned the jury to ensure that they assessed the evidence carefully.

“I have not heard any evidence that he was at the crime scene or that he did anything to assist in the commission of the murder,” Davis said.

“On the 2nd of January at 3:03:54 p.m., his phone was still transmitting from the Tarrant NWC. This is close to the time of the murder, and this is the time when Mr Blackwood is putting Mr Pink in the car with Adams, but the data is not supporting what he is saying, and on the same 2nd of January at 5: 02:32 p.m. and 5: 09:12 p.m., he was still at Tarrant NWC, and that is the time after the murder,” Davis added.

He further emphasised that the data analyst had also testified that his client was nowhere near the Red Hills area in the relevant times.

The lawyer also took issue with the prosecution’s star witness, Wade Blackwood, one of the shooters, who pleaded guilty and was given 35 to life in 2021 before his sentence was reduced to 20 to life after he entered into a plea deal with the Crown earlier this year.

CREDIBILITY ISSUES

Davis told the jury that Blackwood had credibility issues.

“I am not going to call in a convicted murderer. The evidence is that he pleaded guilty, but if you want to call him that, I won’t argue with you,“ Davis said.

The lawyer submitted that Blackwood had an interest to serve, which was to gain his freedom, hence why he accepted the deal.

Davis said that the deal was an incentive to lie.

He pointed out that Blackwood, in his question and answer session as well as his caution statement, made no mention of his client, but six years later, after accepting the deal.

Turning to the phone data evidence, which showed that Pink was one of the men with whom Adams had been in constant communication in the days leading up to the murder, Davis argued that “just making a phone call without knowing the contents of the call that doesn’t constitute knowledge”.

He further told the jurors that the prosecution had the ability to disclose the contents of the phone calls so that they could determine whether there was intent to commit murder or to show that something was done towards the furtherance of the crime.

“You cannot infer knowledge without knowing what the phone calls were about,” he said.

“Is there any eyewitness that could say that Mr Pink was the one who committed the murder? Was there any eyewitness to say that he was, or any evidence to show that Mr Pink did anything, any agreement that could constitute conspiracy?” he said.

Turning to the evidence of a former security guard at Collymore’s apartment, who testified that he had seen Pink sleeping in a car at the complex the night before the murder, Davis said that cell site data presented showed that Pink’s phone was transmitting from Tarrant cell tower, and up to 10 a.m., his phone was still using that area.

In the meantime, Justice Leighton Pusey,who has started summation, will continue on Monday when the trial resumes.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com