MUST SERVE 28 YEARS BEFORE PAROLE; CO-CONVICT ALSO GETS LIFE
KINGSTON, Sept 26, 2024
Portland businessman Everton ‘Beachy Stout’ McDonald was today sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife Tonia McDonald.
His co-convict Oscar Barnes was also sentenced to life.
Justice Chester Stamp imposed the sentences. McDonald and Barnes will each have to serve 28 years and 11 months before eligibility for parole.
The sentence means that Beachy Stout, now nearly 70, will almost certainly die in prison.
Justice Stamp before sentencing McDonald said it was an “extremely heinous” crime.
(Tonia and Everton ‘Beachy Stout’ McDonald in an undated photo)
Tonia “Sassy” McDonald’s partially burnt body was found next to her burnt Toyota Axio motorcar on a deserted road in Sherwood Forest in Portland in July 2020.
It had nine stab wounds and the throat was slashed. Tonia was Beachy Stout’s second wife.
McDonald, a 69-year-old supermarket operator, and 33-year-old construction worker Barnes were found guilty of murder and conspiracy to murder, in March, this year. A jury of three women and four men took just over an hour to arrive at a unanimous verdict in the Home Circuit Court, Kingston.
Denvalyn Minott, who is serving 19 years in prison for his role in Tonia McDonald’s murder, was the prosecution’s chief witness. He testified that Beachy Stout who was his employer, hired him to kill his wife for $3 million. He said he did not get any of the promised money and passed on the contract to Barnes.
The prosecution consisting of Luke Cook, Crown counsel, and Deputy Director of Public Prosecution Sophia Rowe, called 14 witnesses to give evidence during the trial.
