THE murder trial of Constable Noel Maitland continued in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston Wednesday, with a former employee of the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom) outlining the steps she took to obtain DNA evidence from Sophia Lugg, the mother of Donna-Lee Donaldson.

Maitland has been charged with murder, as well as preventing the lawful burial of a corpse. Donaldson 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.

On Wednesday, the court heard that DNA samples were taken from Donaldson’s mother and father. They were matched with DNA samples from Donaldson, to confirm if it was her blood found inside Maitland’s apartment.

The former Indecom employee, who was a crime scene examiner, told the court that on July 26, 2022, she was instructed by a superior to go to Lugg’s house to swab her mouth in order to collect DNA samples.

“I spoke with Miss Lugg. I introduced myself to her. I completed the DNA evidence regulation form by filling out the required information. Miss Lugg then signed the form and then a justice of the peace signed the form and also stamped it. I then proceeded to do the buccal swab collection. I put on a clean mask on my face to cover my nose and mouth. I put on a fresh pair of gloves then I opened the DNA collection kit and labelled the package with the right information.

”Following this, I changed my gloves and put on a fresh pair of gloves. I removed a packet from the package and took out a sterile applicator. This is like a swab. I asked Miss Lugg to open her mouth and I used the swab on the inner right cheek of her mouth, and then I placed the swab in a packet. I then removed another sterile applicator which I used to swab the left inner cheek. I then returned the swab to the packet,” she explained.

She told the court that she sealed the package containing the swabs with an Indecom seal. After that, she returned to the Indecom office and placed the package with the swabs in a secure storage location.

“This is my filing cabinet. It is usually locked for safe keeping. I have the key. I saw the package again the following day. I removed the package from the filing cabinet and took it to the Institute of Forensic Science and Legal Medicine. It was in the same condition and it was still sealed.

”The labelling contained details of the name of the person, the location, and the date. I am referring to Sophia Lugg who the sample was collected from. The evidence tape that was used to seal the package would have my signature,” she shared.

Responding to a question from prosecutor Claudette Thompson, the former Indecom employee said she wore a mask to prevent contamination and her DNA and other contaminants from getting on to the swabs to ensure the sample was sterile.

She, however, told the prosecutor that she did not wash her hands before or after carrying out the process, as that was not a standard practice. She said that there isn’t always access to water when doing evidence collection. On her visit to Lugg’s house, she said she didn’t make any checks to determine if water was available.

The court previously heard that blood, which investigators say belongs to Donaldson, was found inside Maitland’s apartment. That and a string of other circumstantial evidence led detectives to conclude that Donaldson was murdered and her body disposed of in an illegal manner between July 12 and 13, 2022.