‘I did not kill Donna-Lee’

In an unsworn statement from the dock on Tuesday, Constable Noel Maitland told the Home Circuit Court that a “tiny spot of blood” found in his Chelsea Manor, St Andrew, apartment resulted from his girlfriend Donna-Lee Donaldson’s miscarriage during intimacy, not from violence.

“I would never hurt my girlfriend. I did not kill Donna-Lee,” Maitland told the seven-member jury in the Home Circuit Court.

Rushing through his statement, Maitland said Donaldson had suffered two miscarriages during their three-year relationship, one of which occurred at his apartment during sex on the balcony. He insisted that this was the only explanation for the blood found by forensic investigators.

“Not a lot of blood was found at my house,” he emphasised repeatedly, noting that forensic teams conducted extensive searches and testing over more than one day. He added that he had been fully cooperative with investigators.

The police constable has been on trial since last May for murder and for preventing the lawful burial of a corpse in connection with the disappearance and alleged murder of 24-year-old Donaldson in July 2022.

Maitland stressed that the Crown had failed to address expert evidence indicating that the small trace of blood could have been deposited long before Donaldson was reported missing and could have been there for up to a year.

Recounting the days before Donaldson vanished, Maitland said he picked her up on July 10, 2022, to celebrate her birthday and dropped her home that Sunday night. The following day, he said, he picked her up again and took her to his St Andrew apartment, where they spent the evening drinking, watching television, and later went to bed.

According to Maitland, an argument erupted the next morning over his ongoing relationship with the mother of his child, triggered by repeated phone calls and a photograph on the wall. He maintained that their arguments were never physical.

“I don’t have any thoughts of hurting Donna-Lee,” he said.

He claimed he went back to sleep and was later awakened by Donaldson, who then left the apartment on Tuesday. He said he has not seen her since.

Addressing evidence about a sofa removed from his apartment, Maitland said, “I don’t even know why my couch is involved in this case because no blood is in my couch.”

He stressed that no blood was found on the walls, floors, rug, or elsewhere in his apartment. He added that he had planned to wash the sofa months before Donaldson disappeared.

He said he had planned to wash the sofa months before Donaldson went missing.

Maitland rejected the testimony of a car wash worker who claimed she saw “blood like rice grain” seeping from the sofa during power washing, noting that there was no surveillance footage or forensic evidence to support her claim. He accused the witness of lying, including about the absence of garbage bins at the wash site.

He also disputed his neighbour’s testimony that he pressured him to delete surveillance footage, suggesting the neighbour acted out of spite.

“That man does not like me because I am not in support his lifestyle,” he said, noting that whenever they had an argument, he would play Buju Banton’s Boom Bye Bye loudly so that the neighbour could hear.

“I’m not surprised he came here and gave testimony that I told him to delete footage from his surveillance camera,” Maitland said.

Maitland said the footage showed nothing suspicious.

Throughout his statement, Maitland stressed that he cooperated fully with police, giving statements, handing over his vehicle, responding to calls, and assisting investigators in accessing his child’s mother’s car after she reportedly refused to provide it.

The trial has heard evidence from deliverymen who moved the sofa to a car wash and later to an upholstery shop. While luminol testing at the car wash was negative, forensic evidence presented by the Crown indicated that blood traces found on items from Maitland’s apartment matched Donaldson’s DNA.

The trial continues today with character witness testimony for Maitland.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com