By Racquel Porter
The confessed shooter who fired on the left side of the taxi in which Simone Campbell-Collymore was a passenger on January 2, 2018, killing her, on Thursday rubbished suggestions that he included defendant Dwayne Pink in his statement after he secured a deal with the prosecution.
Wade Blackwood also rubbished suggestions that Mr. Pink was never a member of the Unruly Gang based in Brook Valley, Duhaney Park.
Mrs. Campbell-Collymore, a 32-year-old businesswoman, and her taxi driver Winston Walters, 36, were shot and killed outside the gate of her Forest Ridge apartment in Red Hills, St. Andrew, by two men.
Blackwood was initially handed two life sentences after pleading guilty to the murders and would have been eligible for parole after serving 35 years. But on Wednesday the court was told that he's now eligible for parole after serving 20 years.
Mr. Pink's attorney Ernest Davis offered several suggestions during cross-examination, including that Blackwood called his client's name to the police on February 21, after he was offered a lesser sentence.
But the convict disagreed, stating that it was after giving the statement that the police told him he could receive a lesser sentence.
Pressing further, Mr. Davis told Blackwood that it was after entering a plea agreement he realised he could spend less time.
The attorney told Blackwood that he had a chance to come out of prison 15 years early and that was why he decided to include Mr. Pink's name in the statement.
Mr. Davis suggested that Blackwood made no mention of Mr. Pink in the caution statement he gave the police on June 2, 2018, nor in a further statement he gave on February 2, this year.
The convict disagreed with the suggestion, stating that he told the police about Mr. Pink the first time he was taken into custody but it appears they didn't write it down.
Mr. Davis told Blackwood that he was locked in a little cell and wanted to come out.
But Blackwood replied telling him that everybody in prison wanted to come out early.
Refuting a similar suggestion, Blackwood said he told the police that he knew two Denver's, one from Sherlock Crescent and Denver Pink, otherwise called 'Craven A'.
He also said he wasn't sure of Mr. Pink's first name and that he did not want to lie to the police when they recorded the statement on February 2, this year.
The shooter explained that after reflecting in his cell, he remembered the defendant's first name and included it in the statement he gave on February 21.
Mr. Davis suggested to Blackwood that he was pressured into killing Mrs. Campbell-Collymore and that he was under similar pressure at Tower Street Adult Correctional facility when he included his client's name.
Blackwood said he was not under pressure, explaining that he pleaded guilty to what he did.
Mr. Davis clapped back, asking Blackwood if he liked the 35 years.
The convict replied: "I was okay with my choice, Sir. It was long, but I was okay with it, Sir."
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