Cop witness outlines lead-up to arrest

The lead investigator in the Everton ‘Beachy Stout’ McDonald trial yesterday picked up where he left off on Tuesday, detailing how he took charge of the case and arrested the main suspects.

The policeman, a detective sergeant who has been serving the Jamaica Constabulary Force for 28 years, is the eighth witness so far in the murder trial.

McDonald, 68, along with co-accused Oscar Barnes, 38, is charged with the July 2020 murder of McDonald’s second wife, Tonia.

Tonia was accused of cheating on the businessman with a policeman and is also alleged to have been stealing money from the business and giving it to that policeman.

During evidence in chief on Wednesday, the detective sergeant, who is assigned to the Major Investigation Division (MID), told the court that he took a statement from McDonald during a visit in Portland.

“During the process of recording that statement, I asked Mr McDonald certain information, including his name, alias - which he gave as Beachy Stout … . He gave his occupation as a businessman,” the witness said.

He was asked by the prosecutor, “Who recorded the statement? What did you do with the statement afterwards?”

“I did, Madam. Submitted to the court which forms the case file with respect to the murder of Tonia McDonald,” he said.

The detective sergeant also told the court that McDonald acknowledged the contents and signed. The witness said he also signed the document and that both signatures were affixed in the presence of another policeman.

Subsequently, the seven-member jury heard the series of events that led to McDonald’s arrest on August 5 at his office.

The investigator was clear that at the time the statement was taken, McDonald was not a suspect.

The statement was entered into evidence in the Home Circuit Court yesterday.

The detective sergeant told the court that three days after taking background information from McDonald, they returned to Portland armed with a warrant to search his house in Dolphins Bay.

At this time, the court heard that McDonald was a suspect by virtue of the fact that he shared a dwelling with the deceased.

McDonald requested that two females accompany him during the search, and this was granted by the police team.

Nothing incriminating or unlawful was found.

The prosecution was told that on August 4, 2020, a day after now-prosecution-witness Denvalyn ‘Bubbla’ Minott was arrested at his home, he offered to take the policemen to the area where he met Barnes, who he said he subcontracted to carry out the murder.

The detective sergeant said: “A detective constable handed me a blue and black Samsung cell phone. I received a receipt and a pair of Clarks. I was told something about the phone in relation to Minott.”

Those items were mentioned on Monday during evidence by a detective constable.

Minott, who alleges he was offered $3 million by McDonald to kill Tonia, is currently serving 19 years for his role in the murder.

He had said, earlier in the trial, that the phone was used to secretly record McDonald.

The lead investigator arranged a drive-through, which started in St Mary, based on information received from Minott.

“A justice of the peace was also there. In Annotto Bay, St Mary, he pointed out a man. We alighted from the vehicle and approached the man. I asked him his name, and he gave his name as Oscar Barnes, otherwise called ‘Teenie’. I told him he was a person of interest in respect to the murder,” the detective sergeant said during further evidence in chief.

On August 5, a team from the MID reportedly visited McDonald at his business place in Portland, where the lead investigator said he introduced McDonald to a colleague and informed him of the progress of the probe.

The court heard that it was at this point that McDonald was informed that he had become a suspect and that he was not obliged to speak without his attorney present.

He gave his attorney’s name as Richard Harris.

According to the detective sergeant, the businessman, however, had questions.

“Am I being arrested? Am I being charged for murder?” McDonald reportedly asked.

He was subsequently taken into custody at the Lawrence Tavern Police Station in St Andrew after identifying his attorney.

The trial, which began in September, will continue today.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com