Shaquilla Edwards freed after time-served term in Collymore conspiracy case

Shaquilla Edwards is free after pleading guilty to conspiracy to murder and receiving a sentence that matched the period he had already spent behind bars.

Edwards, charged with joining Omar Collymore and others in a plot to kill Collymore’s former girlfriend, was yesterday given seven years and six months by Justice Chester Stamp in the Home Circuit Court. Because of the custody credit, he was released.

Edwards had been due this month to face trial with Collymore, Carey Jonas, Dwayne Pink and Michael Adams on conspiracy to murder, shooting with intent and illegal possession of a firearm. That fixture was put back when the Crown sought more time. Defence counsel signalled plans to argue for dismissal and may file written submissions by September 4. Prosecutors must answer before oral argument on September 18. Collymore and the remaining co-accused are still to be tried on those counts.

Apart from Jonas, the group had already stood with Collymore over the killings of his wife, Simone, and her driver, Winston Walters. Collymore, Pink and Adams were convicted of those murders. Edwards was convicted of conspiracy to murder.

The Crown says the complainant, who had a three-year intimate relationship with Collymore, came under gunfire on December 23, 2017 while travelling on Sandy Park Road in Kingston. Gunmen in a white car are said to have shot at her vehicle and damaged it. She had reportedly broken off with Collymore roughly two months before his wife’s death. Police allege Collymore set up a December meeting to swap a gift after asking her to lunch two days earlier and handing over the wrong item. The alleged shooting came only days before his wife and her driver were killed.

On May 15, 2024, after a four-month trial, Collymore, Pink and Adams were found guilty of the double murders and conspiracy to murder. Sentencing followed in July. Collymore drew two life terms, concurrent, with parole eligibility after 46 years and six months. Adams, whom prosecutors called the hired gunman, also received two life sentences and must serve 42 years and six months before parole. Pink got two life sentences with parole eligibility after 32 years and six months. The court held that Edwards had left the murder plot before the killings; he was convicted only of conspiracy to murder and given one year.

Diane Jobson appears for Collymore, Vanessa Taylor for Pink, Sanjay Smith for Adams, Vivian Wilson for Jonas and Gnoj McDonald for Edwards.