A September 2022 statement given to the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom) by the now-deceased father of social media influencer Donna-Lee Donaldson outlined that he sent her money from overseas via MoneyGram and thought it unusual that she did not answer the message he sent to her afterwards, as she normally would.

The father, Elwood Donaldson, who was a physician and surgeon living in Nassau, The Bahamas, died in 2024.

His statement was read in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston on Tuesday, during the murder trial of Constable Noel Maitland who had a relationship with Donaldson who was reported missing on July 13, 2022, two days after Maitland picked her up from her house in St Andrew.

Closed-circuit television footage at the Chelsea Manor apartment complex where Maitland lived showed Donna-Lee arriving there but none showed when she left.

Prosecutors believe that she might have been killed inside the apartment between July 12 and 13.

Maitland is facing trial for murder and also for preventing the lawful burial of a corpse.

The statement her father gave was read in court by the director of complaints at Indecom, the fourth witness to give testimony in the trial which is in its second week.

In the statement the father explained that Donna-Lee is the last of his six children and that she lived with her mother, Sophia Lugg, in Kingston.

“I am living in Nassau, Bahamas, and the last time I visited Jamaica was more than 10 years ago. On July 12, 2022 I saw a missed WhatsApp call about 1:05 pm from Donna-Lee,” the father said in the statement.

“Donna-Lee then sent me a message on WhatsApp at 1:06 pm. After we spoke, she sent me a message with her correct address and spelling of her name, to send money. I wanted to send her through MoneyGram. The message with Donna-Lee’s correct way of spelling her name and address came in at 1:11 pm on July 12, 2022.

“On July 12, 2022 I sent the money to Donna-Lee through MoneyGram and then sent a message to her telephone number on WhatsApp at 10:54 am [July 13, 2022],” Donaldson said, pointing out that he included the necessary details which were important for Donna-Lee to pick up the money.

However, she never did.

The father said he noticed that although he sent the message with the details for the money to be picked up, only one tick came up in the message, which indicated that the message was not delivered.

“She did not answer the message on the phone. This was not usual, as normally when I send her money and send the message afterwards she would acknowledge receipt soonest, saying ‘Thank you, dad.’ That was the last time I communicated with her.”

The father had indicated that there were no scheduled times for Donna-Lee to call him, as she would normally call when she felt like it.

He said that on September 6, 2022, when he was giving the statement, the messages he sent to Donna-Lee in July remained with only one tick up to that day.

“Therefore, where is her phone?” he asked.

Meanwhile, Donna-Lee’s very close friend, who was on the stand last week, completed her testimony on Tuesday morning.

In last week’s testimony she told the court that Donna-Lee had told her that she was awaiting money from her father so she could pay the balance on a bill at a restaurant where they and some friends had recently eaten.

She said they had gone to the restaurant on July 10, 2022 as part of Donna-Lee’s pre-birthday celebratory activities.

The friend told the court that the last time she spoke to Donna-Lee was on July 12, 2022.

She said she had received a message on Instagram from Donna-Lee’s brother which caused her to call Maitland and ask him if he had seen her.

The friend said Maitland told her that he was sleeping when Donna-Lee left his apartment to collect money that was sent by her father. She told him that she would call some other close friends to find out if they had heard from her.

When those friends explained that they had not heard from Donna-Lee the friend said she called Maitland and told him.

According to her, the constable began to cry very loudly.

In court on Tuesday, Christopher Townsend, one of Maitland’s attorneys, grilled the friend during cross-examination.

Townsend asked her how she knew that what she heard on the phone was indicative of Maitland crying.

The friend explained that she could not confirm whether there were actual tears coming from Maitland but her impression was that he was crying based on how he sounded.

In response to a question from Townsend the friend told the court that sometime after 2:00 pm on July 12, 2022, which was the last time she spoke to Donna-Lee on the phone, based on noise in the background it gave her reason to believe that she could have been on the road at the time.

She also told the court that she was aware that Maitland had a child with another woman and that Donna-Lee and the woman had an ongoing dispute.