Staff Writer

In the moments before he was killed in the basement of his Old Orchard Beach home, Winston George begged to know where his family was and recited a prayer.

Testimony in York County Superior Court from Winston George’s stepson and the longtime lover of his wife, Darlene George, described what happened behind the doors of 56 Smithwheel Road on the night of June 19, 2008, and early morning hours the following day.

The trial of Darlene George and her brother Jeffrey Williams continues this week in York County Superior Court. They are charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the June 20, 2008, death of Winston George in the basement of the home he shared with his wife and stepson.

Rennie Cassimy, who says he was Darlene George’s lover for more than a decade, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in a plea deal with prosecutors that required him to testify during the murder trail.

Cassimy was on the stand for most of two days last week and testified Darlene George wanted her husband dead so she would not lose property in a divorce. Prosecutors say Winston and Darlene George each were having affairs.

Cassimy, a native of Trinidad and Tobago who speaks with a heavy accent, said he met Darlene George at a party 14 years ago and they became lovers six weeks later. She was married to her first husband, Franklin Whiteman, at the time and the relationship continued after she later married Winston George and moved to Maine from New York, he said.

Cassimy said he and Darlene George spoke on the phone as many as 10 times each day and saw each other at least twice a month. She often helped him with paperwork because of his limited ability to read, he said.

“She tried to do everything a wife would do for a husband,” he said.

Cassimy called her “wifey” and she referred to him as “husband,” he said. After he was diagnosed with HIV three years ago, she was the only woman he had sex with, he said. Cassimy called himself a “gigolo” and said he had relationships with a number of women in Trinidad and the United States.

Darlene George went to New York a couple times each month and often visited the Brooklyn apartment building she owned. Cassimy rented a first floor unit in the building.

It was in front of that building where Darlene George, Williams and Cassimy sat in her red Chevy Blazer to discuss the murder of her husband, Cassimy testified. He said Darlene George did not want to lose any of her properties in a divorce, including two Old Orchard Beach houses, the Brooklyn apartment building and two properties Winston George inherited in Trinidad.

 “She said she want him to go, she want him out,” Cassimy said.

Winston George was strangled and suffocated when he was hog-tied with a yellow rope wrapped three times around his neck and a plastic bag over his head. A rum bottle was shoved in his mouth and he had knife cuts on his head.

“My specific role was just to be there because she had nobody else to trust to go there,” Cassimy said.

Cassmiy said Darlene George showed him how to drive Winston George’s car, where to park it after the murder and how to navigate the area, he said. She also gave him money for bus tickets to New York, he said.

Cassimy said he and Williams were in the George house when Darlene George and her 13-year-old son Giovanni Whiteman arrived home from a shopping trip on June 19, 2008. They were tied up and placed in the master bedroom while the two men waited for Winston George to arrive home from work, he said.

Cassimy said he stayed upstairs while Williams killed Winston George in the basement. When Darlene George wanted to know if her husband was dead, Cassimy went to the basement, cut a hole in the bag over his head and put a rum bottle in his mouth, he said.

Cassimy said he would know if Winston George was alive if he responded to the strong rum.

“He never responded,” he said.

Giovanni Whiteman, now 15, said he and his family had a peaceful life in Old Orchard Beach before the night of the murder. His parents argued at night a few times and he never saw any physical fighting, he said during testimony June 16.

Whiteman described how he was attacked by an intruder and tied up after returning home from a shopping trip with his mother. Earlier in the day he had gone to Wendy’s for lunch with Winston George, his stepfather he called “Pop.” Winston George gave him money for new sneakers, he said.

Whiteman said he was tired and headed to bed when he got home around 11 p.m. June 19, 2008.

 “In the rooms down the hallway I thought there were two men peeking out,” he said. “I said to my mom ‘I think there’s people in here’ and then I go to the bathroom and flick on the light.”

As he turned on the light, a man rushed at him, knocking him to the ground and held a knife in front of him, Whiteman said. Both men were wearing nylon stocking on their faces and spoke with fake Jamaican accents, he said.

Whiteman said he and his mother were put in his parents’ bedroom, where he was tied up and blindfolded. He said he was in the bedroom for hours and fell asleep at one point. The men repeatedly asked for drugs and money and ransacked closets and drawers, he said.

Whiteman said he told his mother he could slip out of his restraints and use the cell phone in his pocket to call police. He said Darlene George said that was too dangerous and told him not to look at the men’s faces when they brought him to the bathroom.

When Winston George arrived home from work, Giovanni said he could hear a struggle in the hallway and his stepfather asking where his family was. As the struggle continued, Whiteman said he heard his stepfather say, “The Lord is my shepherd” before the house went silent. 

Darlene George called police from Giovanni’s cell phone around 5:45 a.m. June 20, 2008.

Whiteman said he initially thought the situation was a joke played by some of his mother’s friends.

“I didn’t think this would actually happen,” he said.

The trial entered its second week Monday with testimony from cell phone company employees and state police detectives and evidence technicians. Cell phone records show Williams and Cassimy placed calls along the route from New York to Maine and back on June 19 and June 20, 2008.

Detective Scott Gosselin of the Maine State Police, an evidence response technician and blood stain analyst, testified he helped process the crime scene at 56 Smithwheel Road. He said police saw no evidence of forced entry and found the home in disarray.

There was blood the first floor hallway and blood on each stair leading to the basement, Gosselin said. He said some of the rooms had items strewn on the floor while others appeared undisturbed. Police recovered two knives from the basement room where Winston George’s body was found and a third knife from the master bedroom.

The knives appeared to be from a set found in the kitchen, police testified. A forensic chemist testified one knife that tested positive for blood also was tested for skin cells and DNA.

 “You collect three knives from a murder scene and you only test one?” asked attorney Joel Vincent, who represents Williams.

The jury heard testimony Tuesday about more than 70 pieces of evidence analyzed for DNA. Blood stains from the upstairs hallway, stairs to the basement, basement floor and the upstairs pantry matched Winston George’s DNA, according to David Muniec, a forensic biologist for the Maine State Police Crime Laboratory.

Blood from the handle of a kitchen knife found by Winston George’s body, also matched his DNA profile. His blood was found in the keys of his car parked at the Captain’s Galley, along with DNA from a second person. The second DNA could not be linked to a specific person because of the size of the sample, Muniec said.

Traces of DNA also were on two bed sheets used to tie up Darlene George and her son, Giovanni, but were too small to match to a specific person, Muniec said.

Williams’ DNA was found on the rim of a 7-Eleven coffee cup recovered from a trash can outside the Captain’s Galley, Muniec said. A taxi driver testified last week that one of the two men she drove from the restaurant to a Portland bus terminal threw away a 7-Eleven coffee cup in that trash can.

The trial is expected to conclude later this week.

Go to blog.inthecourier.com for updated trial coverage.