FOUR cellular phones, a blood-stained comforter, and a pair of female underwear that were seized by the police in the aftermath of the death of Nadia Mitchell at her Oaklands Apartment in the Corporate Area eight years ago have gone missing.

The items were taken into police custody and were placed in storage at the Constant Spring Police Station to be used as exhibits in the murder trial now taking place in the Home Circuit Court, where businessman Steven Causewell

is being tried for Mitchell’s death.

But yesterday lead investigator, Detective Senior Superintendent Michael Pommells, who is assigned to the Major Investigation Task Force (MIT) — during his evidence-in-chief — testified that he could not locate the comforter nor the underwear when he went to the storeroom to search for them along with other articles of clothing that were labelled and put in safe keeping.

Pommells, during cross-examination from Causewell’s lawyer, Queen’s Counsel Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, said he searched for four hours but could not locate the items, and that all the exhibits in the storeroom were scattered on the floor because the shelves had broken down.

The senior cop, when asked by Samuels-Brown about four cellular phones that were seized, said that he was aware that the phones could not be found.

During further cross-examination from Samuels-Brown, Pommells admitted that he was aware that five police officers from MIT had submitted statements which speak to their inability to produce the phones. These were requested by the defence to do their own analysis.

Pommells also testified that he was aware that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) had launched its own investigation into the disappearance of the cellphones, but was not aware that the ODPP had sought help from Commissioner of Police Carl Williams to find the instruments.

Causewell was taken into custody in July 2008 and charged with murder after it was alleged that he had thrown Mitchell from the third floor of her apartment resulting in her death.

But the trial, which started last Monday, has heard evidence from the pathologist that the injuries sustained by Mitchell were not consistent with a fall and that she died from a blow to her head, which had caused brain damage.

In the meantime, Causewell, who according to Detective Derrick Amos had informed the police in his first statement that he hit Mitchell during a fight on the night of the incident and had also punched her in the left eye, retracted those utterances in a second statement that was recorded in the presence of his attorney.

Causewell said that he went to visit the Mitchell about 11:55 pm and, while discussing their relationship, an argument developed in which he told her to leave him alone. She left the apartment, and when she did not return, he called her and sent her a text, but she did not reply.

He then went in search of her and found her lying in pool of blood at the back of the premises. He said that he administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and when Mitchell did not respond, he placed her in his car and took her to hospital.

Detective SSP Pommells will undergo further cross-examination today.