Collymore was due to receive massive financial windfall in event of wife’s death
BARBADOS BORN BUSINESSMAN Omar Collymore, who is on trial for reportedly masterminding the murder of his wife, was the sole beneficiary on her $21-million life insurance and was also allotted 70 per cent of her second life insurance policy, which was worth $80 million.
The couple’s two children were the other beneficiaries of the second policy, with 15 per cent each.
The revelation was made during the testimony of the insurance agent, now branch manager, who had sold the $80-million policy to both Collymore and his wife, Simone Campbell-Collymore.
According to the witness, Collymore had also apportioned 70 per cent of his life insurance to his wife and 15 per cent each to his two children.
The court further heard that the 32-yearold businesswoman’s net worth was $150 million and that it was her idea to get an identical life insurance policy with her husband as she wanted both of them to be on the same page.
The 41-year-old businessman is being tried on murder and conspiracy to murder charges for the double murder of his wife and her taxi driver, Winston ‘Corey’ Walters. The alleged contract killer, Michael Adams, and alleged accomplices, Shaquilla Edwards and Dwayne Pink, are also on trial on similar charges.
The two were killed when men rode up on motorbikes and sprayed them with bullets as they waited to be let inside Campbell-Collymore’s Forest Ridge apartment complex in Red Hills, St Andrew, on January 2, 2018, at 3:50 p.m.
Collymore is accused of orchestrating the murder of his wife, reportedly to cash in on her multimillion-dollar life-insurance policy.
The witness, who, along with his wife, shared a close relationship with the deceased woman, on Tuesday told the court that while Campbell-Collymore took out one policy in October 2017, her husband took out two to include a $10-million critical illness policy. His wife, however, had already set up a similar critical illness policy.
Collymore’s insurance policy was later completed in November 2017 as he was awaiting additional information.
The witness also told the court on Tuesday that after meeting briefly with the businesswoman to discuss purchasing her policy, he met the couple in a longer meeting to discuss their policies.
Collymore’s lawyer, Diane Jobson, however, suggested to the witness during cross-examination that her client never met with the branch manager and his wife.
However, the branch manager disagreed.
“That’s your suggestion,” he replied.
Jobson further suggested to the witness that his negotiation was done mainly with Campbell-Coll y more, but the branch manager insisted that he met with the couple.
“The only time you met with Mr Collymore [was] when he signed the form? ”Jobson said further.
But the witness said, “That’s not true.”
The lawyer then suggested that her client was not present when the forms for the policy were signed, but the witness again disagreed.
Jobson and the witness then had testy exchanges as she grilled him about the date the form was filled out for the life-insurance policy.
She asked him if the date written on the application was the date when the policy had been signed off on, to which he explained that the date might not be the actual date as some forms may require additional information.
Jobson then asked, “When was the form filled out?”
In response, he reiterated that the date on the application form may not necessarily be the same date as there are times when clients have missing information that is being awaited.
Jobson pressed him further for a date after pointing out that the date on the document was July 14, 2017, to which he said, “The application could have been filled out two days before, a week before, and it still needed different documents to sign off on. That’s what I am saying.”
“So can you tell me the date prior to the 14th of July, 2017, when you would have met with Mrs Collymore?”
But the witness said he could not remember.
“But you can remember that it was the 14th of July,” Jobson said, to which the witness replied, “But you also suggested that it was 2013.
“No, no, hold on. You said that to me earlier about me knowing her from 2013,” the witness continued as Jobson tried to interject.
The judge, however, stepped in and told the witness that he could not propose any ideas and that his responsibility was just to answer questions.
“Okay, Madam, I can’t give a definite date, whether it is the 11th, 12th, or the 10th, good, ”the witness said.
Jobson further asked the witness if he could recall what information the company was awaiting from the couple in July 2014 and why the policies were not signed off on then, but he indicated that he could not.
Recalling his testimony about the cancellation of Collymore’s policy, she asked if he had had a role to play in the cancellation and if the reason had been given.
The witness said it was not his role to cancel policies and that it was done by the company, which had done its investigation after Campbell-Collymore’s death.
The trial will continue today.