‘I forgive you’

Paul Anderson, the father of Andreen McDonald, is pleading with his friends and the public not to take vengeance on any member of Andre McDonald’s family shortly after the United States army major was sentenced for killing his daughter.

Both McDonalds are Jamaicans who migrated to the US after getting married.

Andre, 40, is from a popular Portland-based family rooted in business and controversy.

His father, 67-year-old Everton ‘Beachy Stout’ McDonald, is accused of murdering both his wives in Jamaica and is currently in custody.

The elder McDonald is scheduled to stand trial on September 18, 2023, for the murder of his second wife, Tonia, and in January 2024, for the murder of his first wife, Marlene.

The younger McDonald, who was convicted of manslaughter on Friday, was slapped with the maximum 20 years’ imprisonment on Monday by 399th District Court Judge Frank Castro.

Castro had the legal option from a minimum of two to a maximum 20 years.

McDonald, at the start of the trial, opted to have Castro, and not the 12-member jury, decide his fate.

On Monday, after the sentencing was handed down, Anderson looked a teary-eyed McDonald in the face and told him he forgave him.

“I love you and that will never change. In spite of everything, I forgive you ... . I love you and that cannot change, but you took a part of me. A part of me is in the cemetery and a part of me is going to jail ... ,” Anderson told Andre McDonald before he was whisked off to a Bexar County jail.

“I love you, Andre. If I see you drowning, I would jump off to save you despite of what you have done.”

Paul told Andre that he took him for a son he had lost.

Andreen’s sister, Cindy Johnson, read from a letter to the accused, asking why he chose murder and not the white paper called divorce.

Johnson said that Andre’s young autistic daughter suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition that is triggered by a terrifying event.

“She burns her toys, attacks her teachers and peers,” Johnson told the court.

The prosecution also read a letter penned by the child to her father in which she says he “will pay and be punished forever” for killing her mother.

Judge Castro, before handing down the sentence, told McDonald that it was devastating that his then seven-year-old daughter was a witness to the deadly assault.

He likened McDonald, who confessed during his testimony to the crime, to a serial killer.

“If you showed some emotions, it would’ve helped you,” Judge Castro told Andre, adding that the defendant did not seem bothered while the parents of the deceased were testifying.

The judge also told Andre that he was looking at his phone during the trial and only paid attention when pictures of his wife’s bones were shown to the jury.

The prosecution, led evidence, that Andre McDonald killed his wife and hid the evidence after he set her on fire.

He also used the skeletal remains of a cow to conceal her remains.

Andreen, 29, was first reported missing on March 1, 2019.

Investigators found an axe, hatchet, and heavy-duty work gloves at the McDonalds’ Texas home.

McDonald was initially arrested March 2, accused of tampering with evidence, but was released April 3 after his bail was reduced to US$300,000.

Officials determined that remains found on July 11, about 10 miles from the couple’s house, were Andreen’s.

Bexar County Sheriff arrested and charged Andre with murder on July 13.

During the trial, Andre McDonald, in his own testimony, detailed how he knocked and kicked his wife until she stopped breathing and then disposed of her body in two garbage bags.

His attorneys presented on Monday character witness reports to the court which according to Judge Castro spoke glowingly of McDonald, and also had sympathy for the victim’s family.

There were disputes about infidelity and Andreen’s decision to delist the accused from her business records.

Andre McDonald will be eligible for parole after serving for 10 years. Time already served will be considered.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com