By FARRAH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
A MARINE accused of pulling a gun on his former girlfriend and her new lover yesterday claimed the couple tried to extort him of $5,000 to drop the charges.
Demeko Simms was arrested after his former partner and her current boyfriend told police he pointed a gun at them when he visited her residence on December 20 last year.
He denied two counts of assault with a deadly weapon when he first appeared before Magistrate Samuel McKinney and maintained his not guilty pleas during his trial.
When he took the stand yesterday, he said the woman invited him to her house. He also claimed she told him her boyfriend pressured her to press charges and she did not intend for the situation to escalate.
Simms said he and his ex-girlfriend were “talking” for about eight to nine months. He said their relationship “started off good” but over time he noticed she had a “tendency to lie for no reason” so he called it quits.
The accused said around 3pm, he and his shipmates were at Fish Fry “enjoying themselves” after being out to sea for a month. He said he and his ex-girlfriend had “stopped talking” for about two weeks.
“I then posted a few WhatsApp statuses when she replied to one of them asking me how I come back from sea and didn’t come to see her yet,” he said. “After ignoring the initial message, she proceeded to call me… I then told her ‘I’m out right now I’ll probably come see you later’. I told her I’d message her when I’m on my way and she said ‘Okay’, so I hung up.”
Simms said when he messaged to tell her he was coming, she did not respond. When he arrived, he said she came inside his car but did not close the door, saying she didn’t want to go anywhere. He said she was in his car for about five to seven minutes when he asked if she had someone else in her house. He said she did not respond but left the car and headed to her apartment.
“As she was exiting I ask her where she was going and I followed behind her,” he said. “When she reach at her residence she started screaming ‘You know I have a boyfriend’ (repeatedly). I was in the hallway between the door and the kitchen. She went out to the room and started to open a door. That’s when a person emerge from the room. I asked him who he was two to three times, but did not get a response.”
Simms said he was using his “inside voice” and speaking in a “calm manner”. He said after his ex-girlfriend spoke with her boyfriend, she asked him to leave so he complied. He insisted he never grabbed, shouted, fought or threatened the couple. He also said he did not have a gun or knife on him. Still, the accused said when he went home, he was arrested for firearm possession and assault although officers did not find a weapon when they searched his car and home.
He said when he was taken to CDU he was questioned and placed in a confrontation with both of his accusers. He said during the interview with his ex-girlfriend, she became argumentative and “boisterous” which led police to end the meeting.
“After I was released from CDU (she) call my phone. I didn’t answer because I didn’t want nothing to do with her after that point. But she called me again on a regular call and said she wanted to apologise. She stated she didn’t mean for it to go that far and her boyfriend pressure her to press charges.”
Simms said she contacted him on Snapchat. He said although he did not answer at first, he eventually sent back “one-word’ responses.
“She told me (her boyfriend) is all about his money and said if I give him $5,000 he’d drop the charges,” Simms told the court. “I didn’t give it to him and haven’t heard from (my ex-girlfriend) since.”
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