OSCAR Barnes, the man who is jointly charged with Portland businessman Everton “Beachy Stout” McDonald for murder, stood up in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston on Tuesday to declare that he is innocent, and accused the lead investigator in the case of lying.

Barnes and McDonald are on trial for the July 20, 2020 murder of McDonald’s second wife Tonia.

Barnes made the statement in light of testimony given by Denvalyn “Bubbla” Minott, who has pleaded guilty to murder in the matter and is now serving a 19-year and 10-month prison sentence.

“Mr Foreman and members of the jury, my name is Oscar Barnes. I don’t know Mr Denvalyn Minott and I don’t know Mr Everton “Beachy Stout” McDonald. I have nothing to do with this charge that is laid against me. I never gave the detective sergeant any statement. He told a big lie on me. I am innocent. That is it,” Barnes said.

Minott, during his testimony in court last year, had said that McDonald had given him a $3-million contract to kill Tonia, whom he accused of cheating. Minott had further claimed that, despite receiving strict instructions from McDonald to kill Tonia all by himself, he subcontracted the killing to Barnes who, he claimed, committed the crime.

Subsequent to the July 20, 2020 murder, Minott was held by the police and confessed to being the contractor in the killing.

However, he implicated McDonald and Barnes in the crime, took a plea deal with prosecutors and turned Crown witness.

Both men were charged with murder and conspiracy to murder. However, on Monday, after no-case submissions were made by defence attorneys representing both accused, Justice Stamp ruled that the conspiracy to murder charge was to be thrown out as there was no evidence that proved collusion between McDonald and Barnes. But Justice Stamp declared that both men have a case of murder to answer.

On Tuesday, the judge officially instructed the jury to return a not guilty verdict on the charge of conspiracy to murder.

However, in a shocking twist — as the trial draws closer to an end — prosecutor Luke Cooke made an application in court to have the indictment amended to reflect that McDonald conspired with Minott, and that Minott in turn conspired with Barnes to have Tonia killed.

Before he made this application Cooke also tried to get Justice Stamp to bar the media from the courtroom.

Justice Stamp refused his request to bar the media and also shut down his application to have the indictment amended, citing unfairness to the defence teams.

In December 2023, the lead investigator in the case insisted in court that Barnes gave him a statement of his own free will, even after being told that he was not obliged to do so.

The detective sergeant said in December, “After I cautioned him at the Cross Roads Police Station he said, ‘Mi coulda save Sassy [Tonia McDonald]. Mi know somebody did a go dead. Even Thursday before she dead, mi deh a di same spot where you picked me up, and him [Minott] circle mi and said he want two 9mm guns to buy. Mi seh to him seh a Manchioneal dem things deh deh. Mi nuh know him, and him nuh know me neither. Him seh a Annotto Bay him come from and right deh so him start fi squeal out everything’.”

According to the detective, Barnes continued, saying, “Him seh, one a di gun fi di man and one a di gun a fi di woman [Tonia]. Mi go so, boom, and a black car come and the car tint. While we deh deh, the female weh him seh him a buy di gun fa called him and asked if him get through and him tell her seh him a deal wid it. One man a call him every minute. It did come een like Bubbla was afraid of him, to how him did a talk to him. Him was like a boy.

“Him seh a man a give him $1 million to kill his wife and he has two more contracts like that to deal with. He was saying that me and him can go deal with it. Him seh the girl cannot get no gunshot, and him pull out a knife out him waist and said it was to cut her throat. I told him that him can’t do that in the man dem place. When him reach Port Antonio a white car picked him up in the town, and that was it.”

On Tuesday the attorneys representing McDonald brought in two witnesses in the trial who gave character evidence in favour of their client. Both men said they have known McDonald in excess of 20 years.

One of the witnesses told the jury that he has been friends with McDonald since December 1984. According to this witness, based on the kind deeds McDonald has granted for numerous people he saw “a good man in him” throughout their long friendship. He said the only regret he has is that he did not go to visit McDonald while in custody.

The second character witness, a businessman in Portland, said he developed a relationship with McDonald as good friends.

“I would see him on almost an everyday basis. He is an astute businessman and is jovial. He helps out people. When he is by my place, people come to him with their problems and he would help the out. I knew Tonia McDonald. Sometimes, if I don’t see him, I would interact with her,” the businessman said, telling the jury that he was very surprised when he heard the news of Tonia’s killing and that McDonald was implicated.

It is expected that Barnes’ character witness will give evidence today when the trial resumes.