Witness, co-accused tried four times to kill Tonia McDonald
DENVALYN Minott, the man who said he subcontracted Oscar Barnes to help him kill Tonia McDonald, who was the second wife of Portland businessman Everton “Beachy Stout” McDonald, said they made four failed attempts to kill her at her home in Dolphin Bay, Portland.
Minott, a fisherman who said he did a little farming as well, is the second witness to take the stand in the murder trial of McDonald and Barnes in the Home Circuit Court in downtown, Kingston. Both are being tried for the July 20, 2020 killing of McDonald’s wife, Tonia. Her partially burnt body was found with the throat slashed and had multiple stab wounds. She was found beside her razed motor vehicle on the Sherwood Forest main road in Portland.
Minott is currently serving a 19-and-a-half-year prison sentence for his role as the contractor in the killing.
Minott pleaded guilty for his participation in the crime.
“Mr Barnes and I went to Beachy Stout and Tonia’s home about four times. The first time we entered from the back of the yard. We took a taxi and asked the taxi man to wait on us. Me, the taxi man, and Mr Barnes came out of the car which was parked outside on the road. I went to the front of the house. I placed Mr Barnes beside a plant in the yard by the garage. The taxi man was standing beside Mr Barnes.
“We were just waiting on Mrs Mac [Tonia] but she didn’t turn up. I was there from about 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm. I went back to Mr Barnes and said, ‘I don’t know how she nuh come home yet’. The taxi man said to just leave that alone because it was not going to work. I told him that it was something that had to be done.”
On the second occasion, according to Minott in his testimony last week, they waited on Tonia but when she drove in, she arrived with the helper. He told the court that Tonia was spared on that occasion because the helper was there, and she had locked the grille shortly after Tonia went inside the house. The witness said a taxi man brought them to the location on the second occasion. “The third time, it was just Barnes and me alone. When I saw Mr Barnes we shook hands and I told him we would go back again in the night. He said he was ready. I went inside a Chinese supermarket and bought a flask of rum, two Boom energy drinks, and five Craven A. I gave them to Barnes and he said he was ready. We took a taxi, and it was only me, Mr Barnes, and the driver were in the car. We were in the yard waiting on Mrs Mac to come in. Mr Barnes asked about what time she was going to come in. Mrs Mac came about 10:00 pm. The helper came out of the house, opened the verandah grille, and Mrs Mac went in and locked it. I was talking to Mr Barnes and told him that I didn’t know how she just come and go een suh. He said maybe she suspected something. We left the house and walked until we got a taxi to take us into the town.”
Minott said that on the fourth occasion when he arrived at the house, he had reason to believe that someone had spotted him and Barnes accessing the yard.
“I told him that we have to do it tonight I told him that we had to kill Mrs Mac tonight. He said, ‘As long as you’re ready, I am ready.’ I told him that when we reach out there we had to reach at a time nobody nuh si wi. When we went into the yard, Mr Beachy Stout called me on the phone and told me to stand down. He then hung up the phone,” the witness said, explaining that McDonald expressed his desire for Minott to do the crime by himself, and not bring anybody in on the mission.
According to the witness, McDonald called him and said, he didn’t “want any twosome and threesome – a me alone fi do it. I told him that it was me one out here. That was not the truth. I lied to him because he said I must not carry anyone in the yard”.
Minott claimed that McDonald told him the murder could no longer take place at the yard because somebody had spotted him. He said he further lied to McDonald about who had accompanied him to the yard.
The trial continues today.
