Kerry-Ann Walters revealed that she sat in the Home Circuit Court on Monday with mixed emotions.

Had her brother, Winston “Cory” Walters, not been gunned down on January 2, 2018, along with Simone Campbell-Collymore, he would most likely have been celebrating his 43rd birthday with his family on Monday.

But even as she endured the pain of that absent milestone Kerry-Ann Walters said that listening to prosecutor Andrea Martin-Swaby delivering the State’s closing arguments in the murder trial of Simone’s husband Omar, along with co-accused Michael Adams, Shaquilla Edwards and Dwayne Pink, gave her confidence in the Crown’s case against the four men.

“We more than have faith that justice will be served, and so far the prosecution is doing more than a good job,” Walters told the Jamaica Observer after court recessed for the day.

“I am the older sister of Winston. If he was still alive, he would have been 43 years of age. The feeling is not good. The family is not doing good. I haven’t spoken to his wife from morning, but I know she is not doing well. I spoke to our mom and she was breaking down. Nobody at all is taking it well. Really and truly, Winston was the vibrant one of the family. We could call on him for any and everything. To sit in court today and to hear some of the things that happened, it really hurts. As a matter of fact, Cory didn’t deserve to go like that. Neither did Simone,” she said.

“It really, really hurts, knowing that today would be his 43rd birthday. It’s not easy. Sometimes he would come by and celebrate it with us. On a weekday like today, he would stay home with his wife and kids but on the weekend he would come by our house and we all have a grand time. For six years, nothing like that has happened. We wanted to put on something today but his kids are not here and neither his mom. It is painful, but we are planning a time to accommodate everybody. We were supposed to go by his grave today but we couldn’t go because of heavy rain. His son said they will be coming in June so maybe at that time we will come together and do something then,” she added.

The prosecution has argued that Collymore put out a hit on his wife so he could claim life insurance benefits worth approximately $100 million. He allegedly contracted Adams to have Simone murdered, while Edwards and Pink were said to have participated in and assisted with the plot.

The murders were committed by two men who hopped from motorcycles before pumping bullets into the taxi driven by Walters. The two men were Wade Blackwood, who is serving time for the crime, and a now-deceased Corporate Area ‘don’ from Brooke Valley who went by the name Jim.

On Monday, in her closing arguments, Martin-Swaby recounted damning evidence that emerged during the trial and painted Collymore as a liar for claiming, during his testimony, that he was unaware of the value of two multi-million-dollar life insurance policies taken out for himself and his wife.

She also drew attention to the fact that on the day of his wife’s funeral Collymore had boarded a plane destined for the United States which he referred to as home.

She stressed that he was remorseless and that even during his testimony he pretended to cry and show emotions.

“Who signs an application for an insurance policy in July of 2017 in six different places and says ‘I don’t know anything about even my insurance policy’? That is disgraceful. The insurance agent said this was not an everyday, run-of-the-mill policy. It was a massive policy and more importantly, it was identical to his wife’s policy. You, the members of the jury, became acquainted with Simone Campbell-Collymore during this trial, through the varying voice notes and text messages. Do you, for one moment, think that Simone never discussed the details of her policy with her husband? Do you, for one moment, think that the manager who came here never discussed the details with Mr Collymore? Do you think, for one moment, that Mr Collymore was being truthful when he said he knew nothing about the policy?” Martin-Swaby said.

Using scripture, the prosecutor likened Collymore to a wicked man who was trying to flee a situation, even when no one pursued him.

“Who boards a plane on January 27, 2018, the day of their wife’s funeral? I asked Mr Collymore if he knew it was the day of his wife’s funeral and he had the gall to say no he did not. This is your dear wife who you say you are her protector. You said, ‘I love her dearly’. Even when people break up and divorce you know the day of your ex-wife’s funeral, especially when they have children. I asked you where you were going and the answer, ladies and gentlemen, was profound. He said ‘I was going home’. The day your wife lay in a casket and your eight-year-old and five-year-old were there to mourn her death, where is home? Where could home be? What Omar Collymore orchestrated, engineered on January 2, 2018 in Jamaica, land we love, he thought he could slip away,” she said.

“Proverbs 28, verse one says the wicked flee when no one pursues. This was the day when everybody is caught up with giving her a dignified burial. By the time that funeral started at 1:00 pm you would have been in Miami, which you call home. Who does this? A murderer,” she said.

“It gets even worse, because now Omar Collymore, the drowning man, knows by the 27th of January that he cannot leave the island by air because something was in place to prevent him from fleeing by air. On the 8th of February, 2018, in the early hours of the morning, a sergeant found Omar Collymore at a guest house in Junction in St Elizabeth. He said he was just waiting for his lawyer to take him in.”

She continued: “His lawyer at the time was Christopher Townsend. So you are telling me that Christopher Townsend was going to jump in his car from Kingston and then drive to Junction to pick you up and take you to the police? Does that make sense to you? Even worse, he said he went to the guest house in Junction to rekindle memories of his wife. Members of the jury, who gives evidence for two-and-a-half days in the witness box speaking about their wife they love dearly and manufactured five sniffs and then with the drama presentation, sought to wipe something from the corner of their eyes. If that is not fake, I don’t know what is. Other witnesses who were in the witness box for shorter periods than you could hardly string a sentence together without crying. When Wayne Campbell gave evidence in this matter, and he said he went to Tranquility Funeral Home that night to look at his daughter, he held on to the witness box and the big man cried,” Martin-Swaby said, pointing out that witnesses testified that, while at Constant Spring Police Station on January 2, 2018, while others were crying, Collymore’s behaviour had been normal.

“They were in shock and [were] devastated,” she said.

Martin-Swaby should complete her closing arguments today when the trial continues.