A Florida man who is accused of murdering his girlfriend and daughter has decided to act as his own lawyer in his trial.
“By the time it’s all said and done, you will see who is the mass murderers,” 32-year-old Ronnie Oneal III yelled at jurors during his opening statement on Monday. WTSP reports that Oneal allegedly shot his girlfriend, 33-year-old Kenyatta Barron, and then beat her to death with the gun when he ran out of ammo. He is also accused of using a hatchet to kill his disabled 9-year-old daughter, Ron’Niveya Oneal.
He also told jurors in his opening statement that the case wasn’t true. “This whole entire case has been tampered with and fabricated,” Oneal said. “My son did not witness me viciously beat his mom to death.” Oneal allegedly stabbed and burned his now 11-year-old son, Ronnie Jr., who survived the attack, before also setting their home on fire.
Oneal is facing the death penalty for the murders of his girlfriend and daughter, and attempted murder of his son. Assistant State Attorney Scott Harmon told the panel that Barron can be heard pleading for her life in recorded 911 calls from the incident, which happened in Riverview, Florida in 2018.
“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry—help me,” she can be heard saying, per WFLA. Oneal previously said he acted in self-defense, and that Barron is the one who killed their daughter and attacked their son.
Ronnie Jr. testified against his father on Wednesday, where he walked the jurors through the night’s events. “My dad killed my mom,” he said via video conference. One sergeant said the boy’s injuries were so bad that “he appeared to have been disemboweled.”
When it came for Oneal’s time to question his son, he asked, “Did I hurt you the night of this incident,” to which his son responded, “Yes. You stabbed me.” While Ronnie Jr. admitted that he didn’t actually see his father kill anyone, the boy said he saw enough to know what happened.
