AS Everton “Beachy Stout” McDonald sat, staring blankly ahead of him, with mouth trembling as the foreman of a seven-member jury announced in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston on Wednesday that he had been found guilty for the murder of his wife, Tonia “Sassy” McDonald, an elder sister of the deceased let out a squeal which was immediately followed by tears of joy.

The jury also delivered a guilty verdict for McDonald’s co-accused, Oscar Barnes. Both will be sentenced on May 16.

Attorneys for both men said appealing the conviction is most likely to be the next move.

Nicole Hamilton Linton, Tonia’s older sister, almost fainted upon hearing the guilty verdict. She told journalists that it was a double victory for the family as her father had been murdered prior to Tonia’s slaying, and that they know where that hit had come from. Her mother, Sonia Davis Hamilton, was also shot in that incident but survived.

“Men like these are weak and evil. Looking at him, sitting there in the dock, he is a weak and disgusting man. Him coulda leave her and mek she gwaan,” an emotional Hamilton Linton said.

“I am overjoyed and happy, but this won’t bring my sister back. We have been waiting for this for a very long time. It has been six months of waiting and waiting. We are a very close-knit family, so for one of us to be taken out in this manner, it is very hard. She was the baby of the family and they took her in a gruesome manner. I hope the culprits will reflect and know that they have taken out a human who was loved by her family. She was the darling of the family. This one is for my sister and my dad. Justice has been served. We want to spend the time now to heal as a family,” Hamilton Linton said.

Tonia was gruesomely murdered on July 20, 2020 on the main road in Sherwood Forest in Portland. She was stabbed repeatedly, her throat slashed, and the Toyota Axio motor car she was driving, along with her body, burned.

McDonald, who was Tonia’s husband at the time of her murder, was arrested and charged with the killing. Oscar Barnes was later arrested.

Both arrests came after police were tipped off that Denvalyn “Bubbla” Minott could assist them greatly in their investigations into the murder. After they arrested him at his house in Portland, he confessed to his involvement, claiming that he had been contracted by McDonald for $3 million to kill his wife.

However, Minott claimed that because he could not carry out the crime exactly as he was instructed — to stab and burn her body — he ended up subcontracting the killing to Oscar Barnes, who, he said, murdered Tonia all by himself.

On Wednesday, following the verdict Barnes, who had maintained a serious demeanour for the most part throughout the six-month-long trial, displayed a slight smirk while waiting to be taken away from the courtroom by the police.

Sonia Davis Hamilton, Tonia’s mother, said it is now time for her family to disassociate itself from the name McDonald. She stated that awaiting the verdict had given her an anxiety attack. Just like her daughter Nicole, tears flowed down the face of the broken mother fighting to stay strong as she thought about lifting the spirit of her family again.

“The name McDonald has to go wipe out. This [the verdict] has created just a little ease for me because this can’t bring back my pickney. This has been very hard for us. My daughter here almost fainted after the verdict. We had to be fanning her, trying to revive her. Normally, I would be the one crying and she would try to hold it in and be there for me.

“I have two children overseas and they are not focused on their work. The family has been very traumatised. I lost my husband and I was shot as well and left for dead in the car with my husband. My children and grandchildren overseas have been stressed and have to be going to counselling. I am very happy about the verdict,” Davis Hamilton said.

McDonald hired five attorneys, who battled over the law and other issues with prosecutors over the six-month period of the trial.

The attorneys who represented McDonald were Earl Hamilton, Christopher Townsend, Courtney Rowe, John Jacobs and Ryan Jon-Paul Hamilton, while Oscar Barnes was represented by Ernest Davis and Vincent Wellesley.

According to Earl Hamilton, “All persons would have made up their minds by hearing things about this case long before it began. I congratulate our team that has defended Everton, but anyone hearing what transpired in the news before the trial, it was an uphill task. Many persons said he could not walk, but we decided to take the challenge and we put forward the best defence, and I still believe in jury trials.”

Wellesley, at the same time, argued that Justice Chester Stamp did not sum up the case for the jury properly.

“I was not satisfied with the summation. I have seen several grounds for appeal after listening to the summation. Any lawyer who is going to appeal will have a field day in respect of Oscar Barnes,” Wellesley said.

The prosecutors were Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Sophia Rowe and Crown Counsel Luke Cook.