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In a scathing letter, the teenage daughter of murderer Omar Collymore accused him of taking away the family’s “pillar” – her mother – and the “good life” she had, adding that she hoped the regrets he left behind would make him reflect on the pain he had caused his children.
“My last name isn’t even my last name. I hope you listen to this and feel bitter in your heart and go to sleep and think about what you’ve put your children through over the past six years and what kind of father you have been,” the teen wrote.
In a victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing for Collymore and his accomplices in Circuit Court on Wednesday, the 14-year-old girl detailed the impact her mother’s murder had on her, her brother and the family as a whole. She spoke of the psychological trauma she had to endure and her complicated feelings towards her father.
“My mom was amazing, she was loving, caring and had a huge heart. She loved her family and everyone around her and it’s so sad that someone my brother and I called dad has taken her life… She was the rock of our family, the light of our family, she had so much beauty.
“I have been to therapy about 10 times because I have nightmares or fears that someone is going to hurt me like you hurt my mom,” she wrote in the statement.
Thanks to my mother for her help
The teen, who was home with her brother when her mother was shot 19 times outside her home, said despite her loss she was grateful for the loving maternal figures in her life, including her grandmother and aunt, who ensured she still had a good life.
She said she is working to “repair” and forgive her father.
“I once had a wonderful life, and so did you, but selfishness defeated you and made you kill and hurt my role model. I wrote this letter hoping that God would help you find him and follow his words and get spiritual and psychological help, because I have been and am getting better,” the daughter further said.
She revealed that she wasn’t close to Collymore because he was closer to her brother and left her out, and she also revealed that her brother wasn’t doing well.
She said: “He showed no emotion, but I knew deep down he must be hurting because his role model had killed his mother.”
She thanked her grandparents and family for their love and support and expressed disappointment that Collymore’s parents had not been able to contact her and her brother.
Collymore sat with his arms folded as the statement was read, listening intently. He was later seen mumbling something and then waving to his lawyer Diane Jobson after the statement was read. It was later revealed that he expressed doubt that the words were spoken by his daughter.
On January 2, 2018, Simone Campbell-Collymore and taxi driver Winston Walters were killed as they waited to enter Campbell-Collymore’s Forest Ridge apartment complex in Redhill, St Andrew, when several men on a motorcycle drove up and shot them.
The 32-year-old mother of two was shot 19 times, while the 36-year-old taxi driver was shot five times.
American businessman Collymore, 41, professional killer Michael Adams and Dwayne Pink were found guilty of murder and conspiracy to murder on May 15 after a four-month trial.
Co-defendant Shaquilla Edwards was convicted only of murder.
Campbell Collymore’s father, Wayne Campbell, said in a similar statement that her murder has affected the entire family as relatives have had to seek treatment and therapies for different medical conditions.
He noted that his wife had to seek medical attention for stress after attending the trial.
Wayne further stated that the family has not received any comfort yet and does not believe it is possible.
“Our lives have been completely changed. We have been living in a nightmare that seems to never end,” he said.
He said his daughter was the heiress to the family business empire and a pillar of strength and unity for the family.
Jewel-Ann Walter said in a victim impact statement that she was haunted by memories of her husband’s death and often had emotional breakdowns.
She said her three children, aged 14, 10 and 8, also had emotional breakdowns during Christmas as they remembered that they had just lost their father.
She said that her husband’s death brought them a mental blow, and now as the only breadwinner of the family, she has to bear the financial burden of the family and can barely make ends meet.
“Sometimes I feel as if I’m going crazy,” she said, adding that she will never forget her husband’s death and her heart will always be filled with sadness and grief.
Meanwhile, in her submissions to Judge Leighton Pusey, Acting Senior Attorney General Andrea Martin Swaby asked that Collymore and Adams be sentenced to life imprisonment for each murder, with 46-and-a-half years for Campbell-Collymore’s murder and 48-and-a-half years for Walters’ murder before they would be eligible for parole.
However, she recommended a slightly lower sentence for Pink, given his minimal role in the murder.
Martin Swaby also requested life imprisonment for both murders, but asked that he serve 41 and a half years for the Campbell-Collymore murder and 43 and a half years for the other murder before he is eligible for parole.
In Edwards’ case, she recommended a sentence of six and a half years, but the judge told her that, given the maximum sentence was ten years and the offender had already served six and a half years, that time was outside the court’s jurisdiction.
As a result, he told her that the proposal period could only be three and a half years.
Meanwhile, Collymore’s lawyer said she needed more time because of objections to the social inquiry report, so the men were remanded in custody on Tuesday until their release from prison.
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