The second witness in the ‘Beachy Stout’ murder trial, Denvalyn Minott broke down in tears one hour after beginning his testimony in the Home Circuit Court on Thursday.

Beachy Stout, whose given name is Everton McDonald, is on trial for the murder of his second wife, Tonia McDonald.

Minott, a fisherman who was convicted and sentenced for his role in the murder of Tonia, allegedly had been contracted by Beachy Stout in 2020 to murder the businessman’s wife. He was said to have sub-contracted the hit to Beachy Stout’s co-accused, Oscar Barnes.

Tonia was stabbed repeatedly and her body burned. Her charred remains were found slumped beside her razed car on July 20, 2020 on the Sherwood Forest main road in Portland.

Minott began his testimony by detailing how he met Beachy Stout and Tonia McDonald.

He told the court that he first became aware of Beachy Stout one day when he heard someone shout the name at a fishing beach in White River, Portland. The witness said Beachy Stout was in a black BMW motor vehicle at that time.

The witness said he saw Beachy Stout again when he visited the businessman’s supermarket in Port Antonio to seek a job.

“The Saturday when I saw Beachy Stout again, it was at his supermarket. I told him I needed some work. I told him that when the goods truck come in, I could hand down rice, sugar and so forth. He said to me, ‘Mi have better work for you’. That’s when he went into his pocket and went on the phone. He showed me a lady on the phone who I never saw before. He then said to me that he wanted her dead. I told him I couldn’t do it, because I never did anything like that before,” the witness, who was sentenced to 19 years in prison for his role in Tonia’s murder, said.

According to the witness, Beachy Stout insisted that he could accomplish the mission and even proceeded to offer him $3 million to do the job.

“He said, ‘you can do it, just make your price ‘. I told him I couldn’t do it because I didn’t know how to do those things. He said to me, ‘I will give you $3 million to do it’. I told him alright and then left the office.”

Minott told the court that he continued to link up with Beachy Stout after the initial encounter, in person and on the phone.

He claimed that during a meeting one day at Beachy Stout’s office, the businessman took away his cell phone and told him that he wouldn’t be needing it again. The witness said that on his way out of the supermarket, he took away two bottles of rum to make up for the phone.

He said one day he was on the road when a motor vehicle pulled up to him and handed him a black scandal bag, which contained a cell phone with two SIM cards, one from Digicel and the other from Flow. Both SIM cards had $500 each on it.

“In about three minutes, the phone rang. When I answered my phone, Beach Stout said, ‘ A me, A Beachy Stout man’. He told me to use to use the Digicel chip to call him personally and to use the other chip to call the lady he had shown me on the phone,” the witness said.

He said he met the lady in person for the first time when he went to ask her for a job for his son. His son eventually got the job.

He again saw the woman, who he said was Tonia McDonald, one day when she accompanied Beachy Stout to visit him.

“I sat down and saw the black BMW coming. I went into the back of the BMW and sat down. Beach Stout introduced his wife to me. Mrs Mac said that she want a gun fi buy, to kill the man who killed her father. Beachy Stout turned to me and said it was true. Beachy Stout said, ‘I have a house in Buff Bay, a down deh the boy live who killed her father’… He then said to me that he would take me down to Buff Bay.”

Minott then broke down in tears and cried uncontrollably for more than two minutes, during which he stooped down in the docks as he was overcome with emotions. The trial judge, Justice Chester Stamp had to calm him down and ask him to take some time to compose himself before ordering a 15-minute break.

The witness, after composing himself, recalled another encounter with Beachy Stout in the businessman’s office.

He said, during the meeting, Beachy Stout took out a scandal bag with cocaine and snorted the substance before alleging that Tonia hacked into a bank account owned by the businessman and stole $31 million.

He said the businessman said, “Da gyal yah fi dead enuh”.

“He said he didn’t want her to get any gunshot. Him seh he want me to stab her up and cut her neck.

“He said ‘all you have to do is go over to the house with her and wait until she comes out of the car and then mi kill her inna the yard.

The witness said he told Beachy Stout that he had never done something like that before, but the businessman sought to persuade him.

“Him seh ‘come on man, I know you can do it, you’re a professional.”