Defence: Collymore a ‘gyalis’, not a murderer

Omar Collymore’s attorney yesterday sought to convince the jury that the United States businessman had absolutely no reason to kill his wife and was merely just a “gyalis” and not a murderer.

Attorney-at-law Diane Jobson, who is representing the 41-year-old defendant, along with Sasha-Kay Shaw, said yesterday during her closing address that Collymore had everything to lose from his wife’s death.

She said although the Crown has painted her client as a manipulator, cheater and murderer there is no evidence that he was responsible for the death of his wife Simone Campbell Collymore.

While questioning whether her client was being condemned because he cheated, she noted that he did not try to hide the fact that he was unfaithful.

“ If you are a gyalis doesn’t mean that you are a murderer,” she told the seven-member jury. If that was the case three-quarter of Jamaican men would be murderers.”

She also rubbished the prosecution’s claim that Collymore orchestrated his wife’s murder so that he could benefit from her multimillion-dollar insurance policy.

“That’s absolutely rubbish,” she said.

The court previously heard that Collymore would have been entitled to $76 million from his wife’s two life insurance policies which together totalled $101 million.

CLIENT’S NET WORTH

But Jobson said the Crown’s claim made no sense as her client’s net worth was valued at $150 million and he was earning $6 million annually

“ A person who is worth $150 million is he going to murder his wife for $100 million. How long is that going to last,” she asked.

According to Jobson, her client was doing well for himself and had multiple businesses and a house in Florida, could afford to pay rent for his ex-girlfriend and invest $3 million in her ice cream business.

“What was he going to benefit from killing his wife, what was his benefit,” Jobson asked further while pointing out that he has been in jail since his wife’s death and has not been able to see his two children.

Collymore is being tried for two counts of murder and murder conspiracy along with alleged contract killer Michael Adams and alleged accomplices Dwayne Pink and Shaquilla Edwards in connection with the January 2, 2018, gun murder of Campbell-Collymore and taxi driver, Winston Walters.

The two were shot multiple times outside the couple’s apartment complex in Red Hills, St Andrew, by two men on two motorbikes.

The Crown is contending that Collymore contracted Adams to facilitate the murder and was assisted by Edwards and Pink as well as the two shooters, one of whom is now deceased.

The other shooter, Wade Blackwood, pleaded guilty in 2021 and was sentenced to two life sentences with a pre-parole term of 35 years. That term was however reduced to 20 years after Blackwood entered into a plea deal to testify for the Crown.

Blackwood’s story was that he was forced by the other shooter, Jim, the reputed leader of the Unruly Gang of which the men were members, to kill the businesswoman in exchange for a gun that police took away from his brother. The gun reportedly belonged to Jim.

However, Jobson urged the jury to reject Blackwood’s evidence.

She said Blackwood had not mentioned anything in his statement to the police about aborting any attempt on Campbell-Collymore’s life.

“I don’t believe him. None of you should believe him,” she said. “If you get a reduction of 15 years you will tell lie on even your mother.”

ALLEGATIONS

Addressing Blackwood’s claim that Collymore had tried to persuade him to change his plea and to lie about the murder by offering him a truck, she said her client did not need to make any offer to Blackwood as he was captured clearly on a video doing the shooting and was “already doomed”.

Jobson also argued that no evidence was presented before the court to show that the men conspired. She also told the jury that there was no evidence of communication between Jim and her client.

Pointing to the phone data evidence which showed that all the men, except for Pink, were communicating extensively in the period leading up to the shooting, she said the data, from the two main service providers, cannot be relied on as the two phone companies “don’t mek one”.

Countering the prosecution’s argument that Collymore’s calls of over 100, to his wife, were to keep check of her whereabouts and to relay it to her killers, Jobson said the calls simply showed how much her client loved his wife.

“There is no sign of conspiracy. Everything about Collymore is in question, it’s all a suggestion,” she said.

While the Crown has argued that the numerous calls between Collymore and Adams were not about business and were about the contract, Jobson said the Crown had not presented any evidence to prove that both men were not doing business.

Jobson urged the jury to carefully look at the evidence and not to be distracted by the drama and the Crown’s enthusiasm or be led astray by the “throng of circumstantial evidence”.

Earlier, prosecutor Andrea Martin Swaby, before completing her closing address, argued that the evidence presented showed a common design among the defendants and a conspiracy to kill, which spanned several days.

She also argued that Blackwood’s evidence was supported by the other evidence presented and that he is a witness of truth.

According to Martin Swaby, the evidence is clear and points in one direction only, which is that Collymore masterminded the murder and that Adams was the contractor who was assisted by the shooters and the two other defendants in carrying out the murder.

The defence’s closing arguments will continue today.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com