Ex-worker breaks down recalling deceased wife of businessman Everton ‘Beachy Stout’ McDonald

A former employee of Portland businessman Everton 'Beachy Stout' McDonald this afternoon broke down in tears as he testified about the death of his ex-boss' second wife.

The witness said he bonded with the deceased woman after she married McDonald and became integral in his business.

Asked by the prosecutor where she was today, he replied saying: "She is dead"

The witness then descended into tears.

While wiping his tears, he recalled being at the crime scene with another security guard when McDonald confirmed that the body that was discovered was that of his wife Tonia. 

Her partially burnt body was found with the throat slashed and slumped beside her razed car along the Sherwood Forest main road in Portland.

The middle-aged man, who was observed struggling to compose his emotions when he started testifying about the deceased woman, was still sobbing even after the close of the day's proceedings.

McDonald and his co-accused Oscar Barnes are on trial for the July 20 2020 murder of McDonald's wife Tonia.

The witness, who described himself as the businessman's right hand, testified in the Home Circuit Court that he was initially employed by Beachy' Stout's first wife, Marlene, and but that he worked with Tonia after she married McDonald and started working in the business.

However, the witness told the court that he first met Tonia in 2009, before Marlene's death that same year.

The encounter, the court heard, happened after the businessman gave the witness $18,000 to purchase a phone for Tonia and she collected it from him.

At the same time, he told the court that the businessman introduced Tonia to his workers within four months after the death of his first wife Marlene.

She was shot and killed in 2009.

McDonald is also charged with her murder.

That trial is slated for January 2024.

- Tanesha Mundle

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