“AM I being arrested and charged for murder,” were the words that Everton “Beachy Stout” McDonald allegedly used on August 5, 2020 when police detectives popped in on him at his business establishment in Port Antonio, Portland.

Beachy Stout was eventually arrested and charged in connection with the July 20, 2020 murder of his second wife, Tonia McDonald. He was jointly charged with Denvalyn “Bubbla” Minott and Oscar Barnes for the killing. Beachy Stout and Barnes are now on trial in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston for Tonia’s murder after they pleaded not guilty to the crime.

Bubbla, however, was given a 19-year-and-ten-month prison sentence for his involvement. He confessed to being the person allegedly contracted by Beachy Stout for $3 million to carry out the hit. However, he alleged that he subcontracted the mission to Oscar Barnes who completed the job.

Tonia’s partially burned body was found on the main road in Sherwood Forest, Portland, beside the razed motor car she was driving.

The lead police investigator in the case, a detective sergeant who is assigned to the Major Investigations Division (MID) of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, on Wednesday, during the trial, continued where he he left off in his testimony on Tuesday.

The investigator, who is the eighth witness in the case, told the court that after Bubbla was arrested, police received assistance from him to begin a clean sweep arrest of all the alleged key people linked to the murder.

“We went to Mary Shine Enterprise where we met with Mr Everton McDonald. I again introduced myself and the team to him,” the detective sergeant said, pointing out that he had met with Beachy Stout before on an earlier occasion after the death of his wife.

“I informed him on the progress of the investigation and told him that he was a suspect, and I cautioned him. I told him that he was not obliged to say anything unless he wished to do so. I told him that whatever you say will be taken down in writing and given in evidence. I told him that he was a suspect. I arrested him for reasonable suspicion of murder. I asked him some questions and told him that he would need an attorney to be present during the interview. He said Mr Richard Harris was his lawyer, and I told him I would have to make arrangements with Mr Harris for the process. When I told him this I was in his business place. He was then removed from his office and taken inside a service vehicle parked downstairs.

Before the investigator had delved into his account of what happened when he went to arrest Beachy Stout, he revealed a sequence of events leading up to the moment. The events unfolded during a process which the policeman described as a “drive through”.

“On August 3, 2020 I was at my office on Spanish Town Road. I was briefed by a detective constable with respect to an operation carried out in Norwich district in Port Antonio, Portland, at the dwelling house of Denvalyn Minott. The detective constable handed me a blue and black Samsung A31 cellular phone. I also received receipt and a pair of Clarks. The detective constable told me something about the phone in relation to Bubbla when he handed it to me.

“Minott was escorted to a detective inspector’s office where I identified myself to him and told him of the investigation. I showed him the phone and asked him something in relation to it. The telephone was submitted to the Communication, Digital and Cybercrimes Division (CFCD) and I made a request. I briefed a detective corporal and gave him certain instructions in regards to an interview he conducted with Denvalyn Minott. By that time Minott was only a person of interest who we believed could assist the investigations further,” the policeman said.

The cop had told he court Tuesday that he and members of his team visited Beachy Stout at his business establishment in Portland at the end of July 2020, after his wife was murdered. The purpose of the visit at that time was to gather certain information on the deceased, her relatives, and friends. He said he spent a very long time at the establishment as he had to show empathy during his interview, seeing that Beachy Stout’s wife was just murdered. The detective sergeant claimed that the businessman was very cooperative and made him and his team feel comfortable by getting chairs for each member of the investigative unit present in his office. Beachy Stout agreed to giving them a statement, which he allegedly signed.

However, less than a week later, Beachy Stout’s legal woes began to unfold, according to the detective sergeant in court on Wednesday.

He said when Bubbla handed over the cellphone to the police that triggered search warrants. The cellphone in question was allegedly the same one on which more than 120 recordings of Beachy Stout’s phone calls with Bubbla were recorded.

“I obtained a search warrant and I, along with other members of my team from MID, proceeded to Port Antonio, Portland. This was August 3, 2020 when we again met with Everton McDonald. The warrant was to search his house. By this time the status of Mr McDonald was that of a person of interest and because he and his wife shared the same dwelling. We did not find anything incriminating or unlawful.

“Sometime later that day a detective corporal contacted me and shared certain information with respect to an interview he conducted with Bubbla. Mr Minott was taken into custody for reasonable suspicion of murder. On August 4, 2020 I gave certain instructions to have Minott escorted to MID offices. I obtained a statement that was recorded by a detective corporal on August 3, 2020. I read through and based on what I read I cautioned Mr Minott, and he said, ‘Officer, I will carry you go to the area where I met with the man who killed Mrs Mac and cut her throat,’ ” the policeman said.

“I told him I would arrange a drive through to point out areas. The drive through targeted St Mary and Portland. The drive through took place on August 5, 2020. 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 cop said, explaining that he then obtained search warrants to search two addresses to which Oscar Barnes was linked.

After Barnes’ arrest, Beachy Stout was next to be picked up by the police. From St Mary, cops made their way to Port Antonio in Portland where they nabbed Beachy Stout.

When all three men were rounded up they were brought to Kingston and St Andrew where Beachy Stout was placed at the Lawrence Tavern Police Station, while Barnes was taken to the Cross Roads Police Station, and Minott brought to the Kingston Central Police Station.

Earl Hamilton, Jon-Paul Hamilton, Christopher Townsend, Courtney Rowe, and John Jacobs are the attorneys representing Beachy Stout. Ernest Davis and Vincent Wellesley are the attorneys representing Oscar Barnes.

The matter continues today.