Attorney-at-law Christopher Townsend on Tuesday appealed to the seven-member jury in the Everton “Beachy Stout” McDonald murder trial to consider that the prosecution paraded before them two “lying witnesses” who were only concerned about getting off the hook as they were also implicated in the July 20, 2020 murder of McDonald’s second wife Tonia.

A man by the name of Oscar Barnes is also on trial with McDonald for Tonia’s murder.

She was stabbed to death and her body burned on the main road in Sherwood Forest, Portland.

Townsend, one of five attorneys representing McDonald, accused the prosecution of putting “make-up” on the case.

The two witnesses, who Townsend styled as liars, were a former employee of McDonald and Denvalyn “Bubbla” Minott who both accepted plea deals from the prosecution for lighter sentences.

Minott, after pleading guilty for his involvement as contractor in the murder, was handed a 19-year and 10-month prison sentence. Minott claimed that McDonald contracted him for $3 million to kill his wife, but he subcontracted the murder to Barnes, who allegedly completed the job.

Townsend said Minott, who played a crucial role in the murder, could be out of prison in six years. Although Townsend mentioned Minott in his closing arguments on Tuesday, his main focus was on McDonald’s former employee who is alleged to have also played a role in the murder.

“The main witnesses were these two men. Everybody else is really smattering. What the Crown skilfully did was put on make-up on the case to hide the major issues. Every evidence passed through these two men. The worker told you, the jury, about the background of Mr McDonald, his wife, and his activity in the conspiracy to murder. The judge is going to warn you to be very careful of witnesses who have an interest to serve. The law doesn’t really like them, but they can give evidence. The judge will tell you to look carefully if you can believe what they tell you. The worker, you would have heard, took part in the murder and got a deal, which was to come and tell this and you will get your freedom.

“It is called plea bargaining, but the reality is that it compromises witnesses. We got a document that the prosecution disclosed on us, which said he got a ‘get-out-of-jail’ ticket. When he came here he came as a free man. Giving evidence was the condition of him getting out of jail. The judge asked him if he pointed fingers at someone else to not go to prison and he said, ‘Yes, Sir’. He is a witness to be suspicious of and you can’t trust him like you trust other witnesses. He not only pointed fingers, but he also admitted to being a liar. This witness, having lied, selected which lies to put before you,” Townsend argued.

“The other witness, Bubbla, will be at the shopping mall with you guys in six years. They were duty-bound to serve us with lies. I am rubbing off the make-up that has been put on the case. The prosecution did not deal with that aspect because it runs against the make-up,” Townsend told the jury.

Pointing out what he said were more lies, Townsend alluded to the testimony of McDonald’s former employee, reminding jurors that he told the court that the first time he met Minott was in March 2020. Townsend said that when Minott gave his evidence in court he claimed that he knew the worker long before he started working for McDonald, who is a very powerful businessman in Portland.

“Minott said he knew the worker long before he was working at Mr McDonald’s place and that he knows his wife. Bubbla buss’ the bubble. He did not get the memo,” Townsend said, claiming that Bubbla did not get a chance to get his story straight before he came to court.

“The Crown demonstrated that the worker cannot be believed. He accepted that he signed a statement to be true, but he lied. After he gave that statement, he was freed. He had everything to gain and that is what he was guarding when he signed that statement. It is not only the witnesses saying they are liars, but they also said that each other was lying,” Townsend said.

The worker had told the court in his testimony in September last year that his boss, McDonald, gave him cellphones to destroy after Tonia was murdered. He took police detectives to dump sites where he allegedly disposed of the devices.

“The police have the technology to find all sorts of things. They didn’t even find a piece of plastic that was used to make phones. Did the witness take them on a wild goose chase? The prosecutor said it is odd for people to make all this up.”