Collymore: Ex-mistress wanted to rekindle affair to pay her rent

Omar Collymore today refuted the reports from his ex-mistress, claiming it was he who ended their three-year love affair two months before his wife was murdered but that the woman kept begging him to rekindle the romance because she could not afford her rent.

The 41-year-old man who is accused of plotting his wife's murder for her insurance money also denied telling the woman, who is a gym trainer, that he was leaving his wife and that they would be together soon.

Collymore also denied calling the woman seven times on the day of his wife's shooting, claiming they both called each other and that the woman was trying to convince him to resume the relationship but that he insisted that he had moved on and was focusing on his relationship with his wife.

The ex-mistress had testified earlier in the trial that she met Collymore at a gym and started a relationship about a week later but that at the time she did not know he was married.

The woman, who started an ice cream business with Collymore in which he claimed he invested $3 million, told the 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.

About two months later, on January 2, Collymore's wife, Simone Campbell-Collymore, was shot and killed outside the couple's apartment complex along with taxi driver, Winston Walters. Both were shot multiple times while in a taxi at the gate by two men on two motorcycles.

The ex-mistress, during her testimony, said Collymore told her a day before the shooting that he was leaving his wife and that they would be together soon.

She further testified that Collymore called her seven times, trying to persuade her to rekindle their affair and that the last call was placed less than an hour before his wife was killed.

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

The woman said following the break-up, he started to ask her to refund the money he had invested in the ice cream business but she told him that would not be possible.

She also testified that 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 testified.

But Collymore, under cross-examination from prosecutor Andrea Martin Swaby, insisted that it was the woman who was pursuing him after he ended the relationship.

He said she wanted to travel with him overseas and because he refused she got upset.

When asked if he wasn't the one who had called her after they broke up, Collymore said it was his ex-mistress who had called him in distress.

Martin-Swaby then asked him about the New Year's Eve visit and he admitted that he had visited her with his son but that he did not bring any wine.

“Someone who is trying to break up with his sweetheart is going to ring in the New Year's Eve with his sweetheart?” she asked.

Collymore answered, “she was begging me to rekindle because she didn't know how she could pay for the apartment but I told her I have to work on what I am working on which is my wife,” he said.

The woman had admitted that Collymore had paid her rent.

 Collymore is being tried for the double murder in the Home Circuit Court, along with Michael Adams, Dewayne Pink, and Shaquille Edwards. They are each charged with two counts of murder and conspiracy to murder.

- Tanesha Mundle

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