Missing juror stalls Beachy Stout murder trial on second day
The murder trial of Everton “Beachy Stout” McDonald is expected to resume on Wednesday after the matter was adjourned on Tuesday when a juror did not turn up at the Home Circuit Court. OBSERVER ONLINE understands that the matter was stalled for hours. It was later discovered that the missing juror did not make an appearance before the court because of financial constraints.
It is understood that the juror wrote a letter to the court’s registrar on Monday expressing that he could no longer participate in the trial as he was having financial difficulties finding a means to and from court.
The Court is currently trying to find a way to resolve the matter in order to continue with the trial.
Tuesday marked the second day of the murder trial of Beachy Stout and his co-accused Oscar Barnes, who have been implicated in the July 20, 2020 murder of Tonia McDonald.
On the trial’s first day on Monday, the first witness testified that his boss quickly returned to his usual business a day after his wife was killed.
READ: ‘Beachy Stout’ resumed business as usual after wife’s murder, court told
McDonald’s partially burnt body was found slumped beside her razed car along the Sherwood Forest main road in Portland with her throat slashed.
The male witness, who said he had been like a son to Everton, also claimed that shortly after Tonia’s murder her husband started saying that his wife had been unfaithful and that she was responsible for more than $30 million going missing from a wholesale business he operated.
The jury hearing the matter comprises six men and one woman.