Sentencing of Omar Collymore, co-convicts for wife's murder again delayed

The sentencing for Omar Collymore and the three men who assisted him in the contract-style killing of his wife and her taxi driver six years ago was this morning pushed back to Friday.

The matter was delayed to facilitate evidence from the medical officer in relation to the medical report which was submitted for defendant Dwayne Pink.

The evidence however will be heard in private.

Simone Campbell-Collymore and Winston Walters were killed when men rode up on motorbikes and sprayed them with bullets as they waited to be let inside the woman's Forest Ridge apartment complex in Red Hills, St Andrew on January 2, 2018.

The 32-year-old mother of two was shot 19 times, while the taxi driver, 36, was shot five times.

Collymore, 41, a United States businessman, contract killer Michael Adams, 33, a tailor and salesman Pink, 34, a construction worker, were found guilty of the murders of both victims as well as conspiracy to murder on May 15, following a four-month long trial.

A fourth defendant, Shaquilla Edwards, 27, a marketer, was however, only convicted of murder conspiracy.

Acting Senior Director of Public Prosecutions, Andrea Martin Swaby has asked that both Collymore and Adams be sentenced to life in prison for each of the murders, with the men serving 46 1/2 years in prison before parole eligibility in respect to Campbell-Collymore's murder and 48 1/2 years for Walters' murder. She, however, recommended a slightly lower sentence for Pink based on the minimal role he played in the murder plot.

Martin Swaby asked also that he be sentenced to life in prison for both murders but that he serves 41 1/2 years before being eligible for parole for Campbell-Collymore's murder and 43 1/2 for the other murder. Pertaining to Edwards, she recommended 6 1/2 years, but the judge told her she could only propose 3 1/2 years as the maximum sentence is 10 years and the convict has already served 6 1/2 years in prison.

Martin Swaby, in asking for the lengthy sentences, had asked the judge to treat the case as one that falls within the category of cases described as the "worst of the worst", and proposed a starting point of 45 years for Collymore and Adams, and 40 years for Pink.

The defence lawyers however have asked the judge not to treat the case as the worst of the worst and that the men be given lower sentences than the prosecution recommended.

The trial of the four men heard that Collymore hired Adams to facilitate the murder of his wife and that Edwards and Pink allegedly played a role in surveilling the businesswoman's movements before her death.

According to the prosecution, Collymore murdered his wife to benefit from her $100 million life insurance in which he was the majority beneficiary.

- Tanesha Mundle

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