McDonald removed from tombstone of Beachy’s second wife
Businessman’s name ripped from Hamilton family history
Published:Saturday | March 9, 2024 | 12:07 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
EVEN IN death, the rift between the Hamiltons and McDonalds was apparent as the headstone on the grave of 32-year-old Tonia Hamilton-McDonald, Beachy Stout’s second wife, had just her maiden name.
Even the slip of the tongue by a journalist on Wednesday after the guilty verdict, mistakenly referring to Tonia’s relatives as McDonald was met with a sharp rebuke.
“No McDonald, forget that name … That is no more, done wid that,” her mother Sonia Davis-Hamilton said.
Tonia, 32, was killed on July 20, 2020 and Everton ‘Beachy Stout’ McDonald, her husband, and co-accused Oscar Barnes, were convicted on Wednesday after a seven-member jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict after 64 minutes of deliberation.
The men were both charged with murder and conspiracy to murder and will be sentenced on May 16.
McDonald, Tonia’s marital name, which was used on occasions while she was alive and documented on several business titles as seen by our news team back in 2021, was omitted from the grave stone.
She was buried beside her father, at a cemetery in St Mary, where they are from.
The Gleaner found the graves after we were directed by a person who attended Tonia’s funeral.
Davis-Hamilton, speaking with journalists on Wednesday, said publicly that McDonald was responsible for the murder of her husband, and that she was also shot and left for dead during the incident.
However, residents of Portland with whom our news team spoke during an investigation in the parish in 2021, were frank in their response to the death of Tonia.
One resident told The Gleaner, “The first wife (Petal) shouldn’t dead ... none of dem shouldn’t dead, but yuh see licky licky ... money is the root of all evil.”
The resident, who knew the parties well, alleged that from Tonia was attending high school she and the businessman were an item.
“From she going Titchfield High School, she and Beachy a friend and because of money, she didn’t need education again ... she a drive a go school,” the resident told The Gleaner.
SHOWERED WITH GIFTS
It was disclosed during the trial that McDonald showered her with gifts that included cellphone and jewellery.
Some community folk went as far as stating that Tonia knew that it was ‘Beachy Stout’ who killed Petal, for which he was charged years later, outlining that Tonia even visited the crime scene on May 2, 2009.
Tonia was found dead on July 20, 2020 and Beachy Stout was arrested a month later.
The contracted killer Denvalyn ‘Bubbla’ Minott detailed in the home circuit court how he lured Tonia to a deserted roadway along Sherwood Forrest in the parish and watched as the man he sub-contracted, Barnes, stabbed her repeatedly.
Minott, 46, pleaded guilty to murder for his role in the killing.
He will serve 10 of the 19-year sentence before he becomes eligible for parole.
The Gleaner, during the special investigation, was told by other residents that in their estimation Tonia did not have to die as she was not a threat to McDonald’s wealth.
Prosecutors concluded that McDonald wanted Tonia dead because he believed she was giving him ‘bun’, as Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Sophia Rowe said in her closing arguments recently.
“This girl ya couldn’t touch Beachy with him asset. The first wife has that power fi mek him walk pon Port Antonio Street and mek him talk to himself (mad out),” a family friend told The Gleaner back in 2021.
The residents told The Gleaner that fear was instilled in “Portland people” as the accused had fielders working for him.
“After him kill Tonia, him send out wul heap of hitmen in the street to question you like police just fi hear you say anything bad. A nuh normal man enuh ... powerful and dangerous and have a lot of cruel people that work with him,” a resident told The Gleaner.
Tonia’s partially burnt body was found with her throat slashed and nine stab wounds, outside the shell of her burnt Toyota Axio car in Sherwood Forest, Portland.
According to court documents $3 million was the contracted price for the ‘hit’, and it was also stated that instructions were clear on how the killing should be done.
The hitmen were instructed not to use a gun.
McDonald’s first wife, Marlene, was shot and killed in similar contractual arrangements after she moved out the marital home and was filing for divorce.
Beachy Stout is to stand trial next year for Marlene’s 2009 murder.