A police corporal took to the stand in the murder trial of Omar Collymore on Tuesday and revealed that the accused man’s wife, Simone Campbell-Collymore, was being discretely observed by a number of men, including her husband’s three co-accused, days before she was murdered.

The information was relayed during a question and answer session with co-accused Shaquilla Edwards, who was interviewed by the police corporal on April 17, 2018.

In the statement read in the Home Circuit Court on Tuesday, Edwards allegedly said he was introduced to Collymore through a friend identified only as “Punisher”.

Campbell-Collymore, 32, and taxi operator Winston Walters, 36, were shot dead about 4:00 pm on January 2, 2018 on Stanley Terrace in Red Hills, St Andrew.

On February 8, 2018 he husband, Omar Collymore was arrested in connection with the murders during an operation at a guest house in St Elizabeth.

In addition to Collymore and Edwards, two other men, Michael Adams and Dewayne Pink are on trial for the murders,

Edwards said he met Collymore in December 2017 and the first time he spoke to him was about goods he wanted to purchase from his store. However, Edwards said he only spoke to Collymore about two times. During one meeting at Clock Tower Plaza in St Andrew Adams, a longtime friend of Edwards, and Punisher, were also present.

The document revealed that Adams reportedly rented several vehicles, which were used to watch the now-deceased woman’s movements.

Despite allegedly being the one to rent the vehicles, Edwards supposedly told the investigator that he does not know Adams “as someone who works”.

A white Nissan AD Wagon, white Honda and a blue Toyota Yaris were reportedly rented by Adams.

In the statement, which was recorded in the presence of his attorney, Edwards said Adams was instructed to monitor a “black 4Matic Benz truck.” He said the first time he ever saw that vehicle was when Collymore drove it to Punisher’s home, and then at “Red Hills foot one day,” when it was believed that Campbell-Collymore was the one behind the wheel.

He said Adams informed him that “the same woman who the programme fi run pan” was driving the car that day.

He reportedly said he accompanied Adams to watch the 4Matic Benz two times at Red Hills, and one time at a hair salon on Dunrobin Avenue, St Andrew.

At one point, Edwards, Adams and Pink, were all in a vehicle observing the car that Campbell-Collymore was believed to be driving.

However, although he provided all these details, Edwards had reportedly told the investigator that he could not recall the dates he had watched the vehicle.

Edwards, who was 21 at the time of the incident, was allegedly given a photograph of the Campbell-Collymore, who was recognised as the person driving the Benz. He later saw her photograph again after news of her death hit the media, the statement revealed.

Edwards added that he had no idea that Campbell-Collymore was Omar Collymore’s wife until he saw her on the news.

However, based on the question-and-answer interview document, Edwards had reportedly grown weary of the task of monitoring the Benz truck and told Adams that the Toyota Yaris they were using to conduct the operation had run out of gas, which resulted in Adams allegedly arriving with bottles of gas that they poured into the vehicle’s petrol tank.

But he reportedly told the police in the statement that this was not true. He had only said the vehicle was out of gas because he no longer wanted to “accompany him anymore on this programme”.

On January 1, 2018, the statement noted, Adams called Edwards and asked him to “look for the lady that should be killed.”

“He called and asked if mi a do road and I told him no, mi nuh deh pan di road ting,” the police read from the statement, adding that Edwards did not accompany Adams since then to watch “the lady”.

Another police officer who took the stand read a five-paged statement he had collected from Collymore after his wife and Walters were murdered. The court heard of the couple’s tumultuous relationship. Nevertheless, Collymore reportedly said the day before his wife was killed they were happy.

“My wife and I was very happy up to yesterday and there was no difference between us,” the statement read.

Campbell-Collymore, who shared two children with her husband, was shot 21 times and died while being transported to Kingston Public Hospital. However, Walters reportedly died on the scene.

Collymore was accosted by police at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston about to leave the country the day after his wife’s funeral.

Wade Blackwood, one of the shooters in the incident, was given two life sentences for the two counts of murder and eight-and-a-half years for illegal possession of a firearm on March 11, 2021. The sentences will run concurrently, and he will be eligible for parole after serving 35 years.