Beachy Stout recorded telling contract killer to delay ‘hit’
PORTLAND BUSINESSMAN Everton ‘ Beachy Stout’ McDonald was heard in one of the secretly recorded conversations telling the man who he allegedly contracted to murder his wife that he should not execute the ‘hit’ on a Saturday as his helper would not be home to provide him with an alibi.
“But me a say, me cya, me cya work pan a Saturday cause di woman, di helper, gone home from five o’clock pan a Saturday,” the 68- year-old said in the conversation, which was played during the trial yesterday in the Home Circuit Court.
“So me nuh have no alibi,” he continued. “Me nuh have nobody fi say yow.”
“Him never deh deh,” the contract killer, Denvalyn Minott, who had recorded the conversation, chimed in.
“Him never deh deh, yeah, yeah,” he said while acknowledging that he understood what Beachy Stout was saying.
Beachy Stout, who is on trial for his wife Tonia’s murder, along with his co-defendant, Oscar Barnes, held his head down while the recordings were played yesterday in court.
Minott, a 48-year-old fisherman who is currently serving a 19-year prison sentence for his role in the murder, previously testified that McDonald hired him to kill his wife for $3 million and that he subcontracted the hit to Barnes.
According to him, he later lured Tonia, who he claimed was his lover, to a deserted main road in Sherwood Forest, Portland, and watched as she was stabbed and killed by Barnes and her car set ablaze.
The partially burnt body of the 32-year-old businesswoman was found with the throat slashed and multiple stab wounds on July 20, 2020.
Minott also told the trial that he had secretly recorded conversations that he had with Beachy Stout and handed them over to the police on a Samsung phone when the police raided his home and took him into custody shortly after the woman’s murder.
MISSED CALLS
The businessman made the point about the alibi after he had contacted Minott, expressing how upset he was at him for missing one of his calls while using expletives.
“Me call a hundred times, and me naa get yuh,” he said to Minott, who assured him repeatedly that he would not let it happen again.
Beachy Stout, in that conversation, explained to Minott that he was calling him to tell him that his wife was heading home but he did not answer.
Beachy Stout, while impressing upon Minott the importance of them communicating, warned him not to go to his house unless he gave him the green light.
Beachy Stout said this was important as persons might be home, while reminding Minott of the instances when he went there and the helper’s nephew was there and also when he called him to tell him that the gardener would be at home.
“We must reason, we must talk,” Beachy Stout said. “Wen me call you, me must get yuh.”
Beachy Stout was further heard telling Minott that he needed to speak with him so that he would know whether children were in the house or whether Beachy Stout had taken them out of harm’s way.
Minott, for his part, reassured Beachy Stout that he understood and that he would be sure to have his walkie-talkie phone with him and that it was charged.
“All right, de de first and de last time,” Minott said repeatedly.
Beachy Stout, while indicating that they were both professionals, told Minott to remember that he had men from town on his payroll.
Minott, in reply, said: “And you know say me nuh waa yuh gi wey di werk … cause me know say yuh we geet it wey fi true.”
Further in the conversation, both men discussed when would be an appropriate time for Minott to make his move with Minott, assuring Beachy Stout that he was at his home every night at 8: 30 p.m. lying in wait for his wife.
Beachy, on the other hand, was heard telling Minott that he needed to give him at least half an hour to 45 minutes to leave when his wife left.
In another conversation, the men were heard discussing a failed attempt by Minott on Tonia’s life. Minott said he could not proceed as Tonia, on arriving at the home, drove the vehicle straight inside, and the helper rushed out to let her in, and she dashed inside.
In that conversation, Minott was heard telling Beachy Stout that he, his son, and a driver went to lie in wait for Tonia. No mention was made of Barnes, but Minott had explained earlier in the trial that Beachy Stout had warned him to do the hit alone.
Defence lawyer Vincent Wellesley, however, had suggested that Minott’s son was involved in the murder and that Minott had struck a deal with the police to free his son but that this was denied by the chief investigator.
The trial will continue until tomorrow, with cross-examination by the defence lawyer.