Wayne Campbell admits that it was painful sitting in court throughout the trial of the men accused of the murder of his daughter, Simone Campbell-Collymore, and taxi operator Winston Walters six years ago.

But when the jury declared them guilty on Wednesday afternoon Campbell, who was marking his birthday, declared the conviction a special birthday gift and likened his estranged son-in-law, Omar Collymore, who is among the four convicts, to the biblical character Judas, saying that he betrayed the family that had done a lot for him.

“First and foremost, I thank Almighty God for coming through for the family again. It comes right back to the Bible with Judas. A Judas dat, man. He betrayed the family with all of what we did for him and gave to him,” Campbell told the Jamaica Observer outside the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston.

“We took him into our home with open arms. It is really disappointing. We can relate to what Judas did. This is like the second coming of Judas. God will always come through for you once you trust Him and let your faith fight for you,” Campbell added.

“God started a good job and I knew he wouldn’t leave us until it was finished. This will not bring back Simone but it brings some form of closure,” Campbell said, sharing that for his birthday in 2017 his daughter had bought him an iPhone as a gift.

“Simone always gave me a good birthday gift and she is still giving,” he said.

“Omar should have known not to mess with God’s people
— righteous people,” Campbell said.

The other men who were convicted with Collymore for the double murder committed on January 2, 2018, were Michael Adams, the contractor in the killings; Dwayne Pink; and Shaquilla Edwards.

Each of the accused men, except Edwards, was found guilty on two counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to murder. Edwards was only found guilty of conspiracy to murder.

The jury took just over two hours to return the verdicts.

Collymore is said to have ordered his wife murdered just so that he could claim $100 million from her two life insurance policies. He contracted Michael Adams to carry out the hit while Edwards and Pink conspired and assisted in the commission of the crime.

After the verdict, Campbell thanked Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Andrea Martin-Swaby and the members of her team, as well as the police for their “exceptional work”.

“It pained my heart, brethren, to sit inside the court throughout the trial but in the same sense we have to make sure common sense prevailed. We just had to subject ourselves to what exists and just deal with it,” Campbell told the
Observer.

Earlier, after Judge Leighton Pusey retired the jury, the Campbell family, supported by friends, huddled in prayer led by Campbell-Collymore’s mother, Karen Campbell.

Declaring an early victory in the matter “in Jesus’ name” the mother prayed: “Not one of them will go free. Lord, I tell you thanks.”

When the verdict was delivered, she was ecstatic, even while acknowledging that a jury finding them guilty would not bring her daughter back.

“The Bible said touch not God’s anointed. We believe strongly in that. We are people of God and we know that prayer works and Jesus never fails us and will never fail us. We know the God we serve,” she said.

“While they are behind bars, we pray they will see themselves and look at the crime they did and repent. I was praying inside the courtroom because in everything prayer needs to be involved. Prayer is what breaks the yoke of the enemy. Prayer settles your account and prayer is what gives you deliverance and victory. All of this happened because of prayer,” she said.

“We believe there is a God who answers prayers. I just want to say thanks to the police force for making sure all these men were captured. Thanks to the prosecutor also; she did an excellent job. The judge was very thorough in his summation. Thanks to the judge as well.”

Stacey Chue, one of Campbell-Collymore’s best friends, shared the same sentiment.

“I am very elated. We have been praying for this for six years now. We are overwhelmed, happy, excited, and everything. I am bursting with joy,” Chue said.

Kerry-Ann Walters, the sister of the taxi operator Winston Walters, was happy that justice was served.

“We serve a great, big and wonderful God and we knew they were not going to get away. We prayed, enuh! We prayed. Justice had to be served because they did not deserve to go out like this. My mother was tuning in online. They all were there. They were sending tears emojis and everybody said they knew we were going to get justice,” she said.

Before the jury returned to the courtroom, Walters, in anticipation of the conviction, had drawn a parallel to the killing of one of the shooters by the police on her mother’s birthday and the fact that Campbell-Collymore’s father was marking his birthday. It was a special sign, she said.

The slain killer was known as Jim, a community don from Brook Valley in St Andrew.

His accomplice was Wade Blackwood who was captured by the police after his mother saw him on television news and chased him from her house.

Blackwood eventually confessed to his involvement in the murder and, in 2021 was sentenced to 35 years in prison on each of the two counts of murder. He also received an eight-year sentence for the gun he used to kill Campbell-Collymore and Walters.

However, he took a plea deal and became a witness for the Crown.

His cooperation led to 15 years being shaved off his sentence, which means he will spend 20 years behind bars before he becomes eligible for parole.

Collymore and his co-convicts will be sentenced on July 11.

The attorney who represented Collymore was Diane Jobson. CJ Mitchell and Sanjay Smith represented Adams, while Patrick Peterkin and Gnoj McDonald represented Edwards. Ernest Davis appeared for Pink.